


The Devil In My Bloodstream

by cryptidkickflip



Series: Not Another Witch AU [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Amputee Takashi Shirogane, Canon Disabled Character, Child Abuse, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, Magic AU, Multi, Past Lance/Nyma/Rollo, Trans Keith (Voltron), Witch AU, Witches, trans keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-04 09:19:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 52,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12767859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptidkickflip/pseuds/cryptidkickflip
Summary: Keith's been beaten, bruised, spit on, and emotionally scarred more times than he could count, but being the new kid at Garrison High might just take the prize for "Most Trying Experience of My Young Life" in his memoirs.Lance has a lot on his plate. His family relations are just like riding a bike, if that bike were on fire and he was riding through Hell. High school is always rough, and anybody who claims otherwise is a dirty liar. He spends hours after school with his friends practising an after-school activity that may turn out to be bigger than all of them combined. Oh, and the new kid is causing Lance to have The Great Gay Panic of 2017.Cake, baby.





	1. It'd Be Easier If He'd Just Ride A Broomstick

            Keith was born on October 23, 1999, and he’s spent every minute since being very, very sorry about it. That sentiment swirled the drain in his groggy mind as he chewed hollowly on the breakfast Shiro had set down in front of him.

            “You want some hot sauce?” Shiro called from the fridge. Keith looked blankly at him. “I’ll just bring it for when you’re awake.” He chuckled and tucked the bottle under his right arm as he shut the door. Keith felt the pang that he usually did when he saw his brother using his right arm now.

            “Thanks, Shiro.” He said, voice croaky. Shiro set down his coffee and the hot sauce as he sat down at the table.

            “Sounds like your voice is breaking,” Shiro said cheerily. “How long’s it been?” Keith grinned.

            “Tomorrow’s eight weeks, but I think I’m just tired.” He said, looking back down at his breakfast. He blinked for a moment. Shiro was right. He usually had his scrambled eggs with hot sauce. Shiro chuckled as he reached for the hot sauce.

            “I told you,” He ribbed fondly. “Sure you don’t wanna try coffee?”

            “I told you. I’m saving it for when the need is urgent.” Keith replied, holding a hand up.

            “What, the first day at a new school isn’t urgent enough for you?” Shiro said around a mouthful of egg. Keith rolled his eyes.

            “Do I have to go to the school you’re teaching at?” Keith whined. He knew he was being ridiculous, but judging by what happened at his last school, he wanted Shiro to be as far away from his high school as possible. Shiro smiled tightly, and Keith knew he’d hurt him. “Not like that,”

            “Your big bro’s not gonna cramp your style,” Shiro promised. “It’s your senior year, you’re supposed to be having fun, getting ready for next year,”

            “I’m probably gonna cramp _your_ style,” Keith muttered.

            “Besides,” Shiro said, over Keith’s groaning. “There’s only one high school in this whole district.”

            “Home school?” Keith said hopefully.

            “The state barely let me take you, Keith, they’re not going to let you be homeschooled by me alone,” Shiro said pragmatically.

            “The school for the blind?” Keith grumbled.

            “You’re not blind,” Shiro said, shaking his head before noticing Keith’s lingering gaze on the knife sticking out of the butter. He stood and snatched the utensil and Keith laughed and gave chase. They wrestled by the counter for a few minutes, Shiro somehow getting butter on Keith’s forehead and Keith rubbing that butter on Shiro’s pyjama shirt.

            “C’mon, you’re like six feet taller than me,” Keith groaned, stretching up on his tippy toes.

            “Well, put on a growth spurt and we’ll talk,” Shiro laughed, tossing the knife into the sink. “Go get dressed and wash your face. We’ll be late.”

            “Can I drive?” Keith called over his shoulder.

            “Take your bike,” Shiro responded and Keith whooped and bounded up the stairs. He quickly jumped into some clothes (getting dressed was easier when everything was black) and stomped into his boots.

            “I’m heading out! See you at school, Takashi!” Keith wheeled out the door.

            “Follow the speed limit signs!” Shiro yelled out the slamming back door. Keith jammed the helmet on his head and slung on his backpack with a chuckle. Sure he would.

 

* * *

 

            “Mama!” Lance called, rear end sticking out of the fridge. “Where’s the milk?”

            “Carlita has it in the living room!” His mom called back from the laundry room.

            “Carlita!” Lance hollered, slamming the fridge shut. “You better not be chain-drinking glasses of milk! I already poured my cereal!”

            “Uh, Thomas had some too!” Came his little sister’s insistence. Lance glared and scooped up his cereal bowl.

            “There’d better be milk when I get in there!” He yelled, stomping into the living room. Carlita squealed and ran into her and Louisa’s bedroom, slamming the door shut. Lance glared at the empty gallon of milk and looked into his bowl of dry Cheerios.

            “Lo siento, Lance,” His four-year-old brother said, holding out his cup of milk. “Carlita left hers, too,” He giggled. Lance messed up Thomas’s hair and took the cup.

            “Good thinkin’, hermanito. You’re my favourite.” Lance had just taken the last bite of Cheerios when he saw a yellow blur go by outside. He sprinted out the door after plunking the bowl in the dishwater. “Bye mama! Bye crazies!” He shouted into the house proper from the porch. He didn’t wait for an answer before taking off into the street. If he was late again, Iverson would skin him alive. The bus, also known as his mortal enemy, passed his stop up entirely. He ran after it for a solid block before giving up. Stopping in the middle of the street, he cried wordlessly into the air and threw up his hands.

            “Dude, look out!” Someone shouted from behind him. There was the squealing of tires and a litany of curses, and Lance whipped around to see a boy go up and over the handlebars of his motorcycle. The guy scrambled to catch the bike before it fell over, but he was unsuccessful. “God damn it,” The guy swore. Feeling his face redden, Lance scrambled to help.

            “Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” They lifted the bike together. “I, uh, just missed my bus,” He rambled.

            “Do you go to Garrison?” The kid asked, jutting his hip against the bike.

            “Yeah?” Lance said. It sounded like a question.

            “Fucking get on. If I’m late, my brother’s gonna kill me,” The kid swung his leg over the bike and tugged off the helmet. “Here, let’s go.” Lance was frozen in place as the kid jammed the helmet into his hands. “What? Never seen a motorcycle before? Let’s go!” The kid made a rapid motion with his hand as he kicked the bike to life. The noise spurred Lance to life and he stuffed his head into the helmet and sat down behind the kid. “Hold on,” Lance did as he was told and the bike tore down the alleyway. The kid parked next to a black Mustang and swore a few times as he ripped he helmet off of Lance. “How do you get to the front office?”

            “You’re new?” Lance asked, rushing them both to the front door.

            “Yeah, I gotta get my schedule,” Lance lead the way to the front office.

            “We still have three minutes,” He called and the kid sped to keep up. They slid into the front office.

            “I need a schedule for Keith Kogane,” Keith gasped. The woman at the desk goggled at them for a moment before rustling through a stack.

            “Is that with a ‘k’?” She asked, licking a finger.

            “Yes,” Keith said, trying his level best to keep his tone under control. The woman handed him a paper and he and Lance were off again.

            “Where?” Lance gasped.

            “The gym, with Iverson?” He said and Lance grabbed his arm.

            “Me too! Let’s move!” Lance took off down the hallway. Someone shouted for him not to run, but the two boys ignored them. They slid on the soles of their shoes into the locker room just as the bell rang.

            “Just on time, McClain,” Iverson growled. He was standing in the doorway with a clipboard. Lance exhaled and shuffled toward his locker before offering Keith a knuckle-touch.

            “Good teamwork, there, buddy. I’m Lance.” He said. Keith looked around like a deer in the headlights.

            “Keith,” He said absently.

            “You’re Keith?” Iverson said, looking between the two. Keith nodded. “Pick an empty locker for your gym clothes. No food, no coffee cups, nothin’ that could track in ants. You’ve got five minutes to get into tennis shoes, sweats, and a tee shirt you’re not gonna wear all day.” Iverson slapped a lock into his hand. “Get moving.”

            “There’s an empty one over here,” Lance called, swinging open a locker. Keith jammed his helmet into the top slot. “What locker do you have for books?” Keith handed him his schedule as he tugged his gym clothes out of his backpack. “Oh, that’s by Pidge. You’ll meet them in a few,” He chirped. Keith’s head spun a bit.

            “Yeah,” He responded. He sussed the bathroom out. “See ya,” He said, ducking into a stall. Lance stood in front of his locker for a second, processing the events of the morning. Had he just adopted the new kid?

 

* * *

 

            “So, Keith,” Lance wheezed as he dove to scoop up the rolling dodgeball. “What’s a pretty guy like you doin’ in an awful place like this?”

            “Not the time, Lance,” Hunk said before letting out a veritable shriek and jumping to the side. Behind him, Pidge caught the ball with a _slam_ and whirled, releasing it directly into the chest of an opponent. Iverson called them out and the kid pouted as he slunk off the field. Keith rolled and snagged another ball and launched it at another person. They weren’t quick enough, and Iverson called another out.

            “We’re a good team!” Lance crowed, knocking an oncoming ball out of Hunk’s path with the ball he still held.

            “Throw the damn ball, Lance!” Pidge snapped as they went to retrieve the one Lance had forsaken. Lance glared at them.

            “You can’t rush perfection, Pidgeon,” He said haughtily. As he wound up to throw, Keith slid in, caught the ball thrown at Lance, and struck the remaining player out. Lance gasped in both shock and irritation. “Hey! That was my guy!”

            “Well, if you wouldn’t have taken all day,” Keith grumbled, crossing his arms.

            “I was getting ready!” Lance cried.

            “Lance, civilizations were born and died while you were ‘getting ready’,” Pidge snarked and Lance glared as they set up for another round.

            “Whatever. It’s on, mullethead,” He grumbled.

            “Excuse me?” Keith asked, voice breaking.

            “Mullet. Head.” Lance enunciated, poking a finger to Keith’s sternum. The shorter boy glared and set his jaw. “I didn’t stutter.”

            “Oh, it’s on.” Keith growled. His eyes glittered playfully, though, and Lance perked up at the opportunity for a real challenge. “First one to clear the team wins,”

            “Clear the whole team?” Lance sputtered. Keith took two steps back from the line as Iverson brought the whistle to his mouth.

            “I didn’t stutter,” Keith smirked at Lance’s jaw hitting the floor. The whistle blew, and Keith was on the ball right in front of him in an instant. Lance recovered to get his hands on another ball a moment later, but Keith was already launching his at the girl across from him. She yelled in frustration as she passed her ball off to a team member. Pidge and Hunk hovered at the back.

            “Mating rituals,” Pidge sighed. Hunk made a faux gagging noise and they bumped fists. Keith caught the ball thrown at him and Lance wound up to throw. Keith picked off the kid he was aiming at, much to Lance’s infuriation.

            “Stop being such a showoff, mullet man!” He crowed. Keith danced over to him and snatched the ball out of his hands. The last man standing on the other team scrambled for a ball, but it was no use.

            “Stop being such a poor loser,” Keith threw the ball and Iverson blew the whistle.

            “That’s time! Get changed!” He bellowed across the gym. Lance stood frozen in his spot as Keith jogged back to the locker room. Pidge and Hunk made their way over to him as he blinked down at his hands.

            “I think I’m in love,”


	2. Honestly, The Broomstick Would Be Nicer On Gas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang's all here... Let's get to work.

            Keith was leaning against his locker, futzing on his phone when he got out of his last class. He grumbled something about traitorous pigeons before going to meet him.

            “Hey, just stopped by to see if you needed a ride home,” Keith asked nonchalantly like he wasn’t offering to let Lance ride behind him on a motorcycle. Like he wasn’t going to pull into Lance’s driveway and give Lance’s mom a heart attack.

            “Uh. That’d be great, actually. The bus seems to forget I exist.” Keith nodded.

            “Cool.” His face turned beet red. “Uh, not about the bus thing. About the ride thing. Okay. Where’d you say you lived?” Lance chuckled as they walked out to the parking lot together. When they made it to Keith’s bike, there was a guy leaning against the back of the black Mustang. Lance recognized him as the new science teacher.

            “Hey, Shiro. This is Lance. Lance, this is my brother, Shiro.” Lance waved and smiled.

            “Hi, Mr. Shirogane. My friends, Hunk and Pidge, have you for class.” Shiro thought for a moment before smiling.

            “That’s great,” He said, remembering them as the two who sat in the back and actually read the syllabus. “So…?” He looked at Keith with furrowed brows. As a brother, Lance knew the freaky eyebrow thing when he saw it and let them have their moment.

            “I’m gonna give Lance a ride home,” Keith announced after the moment was over. “He missed his bus.”

            “On your bike? You only have one helmet.” Shiro pointed out. Keith deflated slightly.

            “He doesn’t live far, and I’ll let him have it,” Keith promised. “I’ll drive slow. Don’t worry!” Shiro cocked an eyebrow at Keith again, and Keith glared back. More sibling telepathy.

            “Okay. Text me when you get there and when you leave again.” He pointed at Keith and raised his eyebrows.

            “I promise!” Keith called back, digging his phone out of his backpack. “Take this with you,” He slung it into Shiro’s passenger seat.

            “Don’t stay too long, then. You gotta stay on your homework.” Keith snorted.

            “Got it, Mr. Shirogane,” Shiro rolled his eyes and started his car. Keith shoved the helmet at Lance and slung a leg over the bike. “Hop on!”

            On one hand, Lance was thrilled at the idea of not having a backpack jammed into his gut during the ride home. On the other, they were now going to be sitting much, much closer. Keith kicked the bike to life and Lance sat down behind him. He held his breath. Much closer.

            Lance gave Keith directions to his house and they pulled into the driveway. Lance oozed off the bike and winced as the side door sprung open.

            “Hi, Mama!” Lance called, pulling the helmet off. Keith still sat on the bike as it idled, looking very much like a deer in the headlights.

            “¿Quién es ese?” His mom asked from the porch. She waved at Keith and Keith waved back. “¡Un niño de motocicleta!”

            “Mom, this is Keith. He’s new at school and offered me a ride home,” Lance said, face reddening.

            “How nice!” Lance mom said warmly. “My boy always misses the bus. That’s why he’s so skinny! We make him walk!” Keith chuckled and Lance turned even more pink.

            “I have to go, or my brother’s gonna come find me,” Keith said, grinning at Lance.  They shared a knuckle touch. “Want me to come get you in the morning, too?” Lance felt like his heart was going to escape from his chest.

            “Uh, that would be great!” Lance agreed. Keith nodded and took the helmet back.

            “I’ll bring you my brother’s old helmet. He won’t mind.” With that, Keith was off. Lance stood in the driveway for a second before following his mom into the house. What the hell had he just gotten himself into?

 

* * *

 

            “And I told him I’d give him a ride tomorrow,” Keith groaned into the carpet. He hadn’t even taken off the helmet or his boots. He was just sprawled in the doorway to Shiro’s room, effectively trapping Shiro for the entire conversation.

            “I mean, he seems nice,” Shiro offered, dumbstruck. The lump on his carpet groaned and slithered out of his helmet.

            “I don’t even know if he’s… dateable.” Keith settled on. There was a lot going on to pin down with a single word, but he figured it was the most succinct.

            “Maybe focus on just being friends first.” Shiro said with a laugh.

            “Friends,” Keith repeated. Shiro nodded as Keith flipped over and used his helmet as a pillow. “I can do friends.” He said confidently. “Yeah, friends.”

            “You sure?” Shiro asked. Keith mushed his face with both hands.

            “I don’t know!” He wailed.

            “C’mon.” Shiro stood from his desk and nudged Keith with a socked foot. “One of my new coworkers said there was this great frozen yoghurt place on the main street. I know from experience that the only thing that fixes everything is frozen yoghurt.”

 

* * *

 

            “And he has the cutest blue eyes. Are they even blue? I don’t know, purple? I don’t know. They’re cute! And he drives a motorcycle! A _motorcycle!_ ” He hissed. Angela burbled as Lance finished changing her diaper. “I knew I could count on you for boy advice.”

            “Lance!” His mom called from downstairs. “Will you help me with dinner?”

            “Coming, Mama!” He replied, scooping up Angela. He helped his mom with dinner, all the while considering whether or not to tell her everything he’d told his baby sister. He never felt like he really _needed_ to come out, so he hadn’t, but he wasn’t sure how his mom would take it. None of his siblings had said anything of the sort, and even though he was the oldest, he was loath to be the first.

            “You’re quiet today, baby. What’s going on?” His mom was _psychic._

            “Nothing, really. I’m just really excited about making a new friend.” He said simply.

            “Is your friend going to join the club with Pidge and Hunk?” His mom asked. Lance winced.

            “Probably not, mama. That’s… That’s special.” His mom nodded.

            “Of course it is. You never know, though. This boy might be special, too.”

 

* * *

 

            Keith looked morosely at his closet the following morning. Shiro had already called him down twice, but he couldn’t find anything that didn’t make him feel gross to wear. He put on a black tee shirt and his leather jacket and ran down the stairs.

            “Don’t you have to pick Lance up?” Shiro asked, shrugging on his blazer. Keith swore and took an apple off the counter.

            “I’m taking your helmet,” Keith yelled back into the house.

            “You better!” Shiro replied. “Text me when you get to school!” Keith hauled ass out of the driveway moments later. He made it back to Lance’s place, where the boy in question was sitting on his front steps.

            “Hey!” Keith called, parking his bike.

            “Hey,” Lance walked over. “You know, I was just sitting here thinking how silly it was that we didn’t trade numbers yesterday,” He said in a rush.

            “Yeah. Silly.” Keith said, voice squeaking. He cursed internally as they swapped cell phones. “Ready to get moving?”

            “Yeah. Thanks, by the way.” Lance said, putting Shiro’s helmet on.

            “No problem,” Keith replied, strapping his helmet on as well. “Hold on!” They made it to class with plenty of time to spare that morning and were able to stroll casually to the gym.

            “We can leave the helmets in a classroom if you want,” Lance offered, after watching Keith wrestle with putting both in a locker.

            “Do we have time?” Lance looked at the clock.

            “Sure. Let’s go,” Keith followed Lance, carrying the helmets and leaving his backpack in his gym locker. They went downstairs and made a right, into the most colourful classroom Keith had ever seen. Every available surface was covered in artwork, down to the ceiling tiles and the walls.

            “Allura!” Lance sang. A woman near the front of the classroom rolled her eyes.

            “You have to call me Ms. Altea during school hours.” She insisted. Keith smiled at her.

            “The bell hasn’t even rung yet,” Lance said defensively. “Anyway, this is Keith. He’s new, and can we put our helmets in the back of your classroom?”

            “Go ahead,” She allowed. Lance took them and skipped to the back of the classroom, setting them down on the counter.

            “I’d stay and chat, but we have Iverson first period.” Ms. Altea nodded.

            “Godspeed, then, boys.” They were back up the stairs in a flash.

            “That’s Allura. Me, Pidge, and Hunk know her.” Lance said shortly as they made their way back to the gym. “We’ll talk to her and her uncle later. Her uncle’s the history teacher.”

            “Oh, I have him,” Keith said, remembering from yesterday. “He seems great.”

            “Yeah, he’s hysterical. You gotta ask him about the cape one day, preferably before he knows we’re friends.” Lance said, chuckling as he dug out his gym clothes.

            “We’re… friends?” Keith said, staring in shock at Lance.

            “Uh, sure. Do you not want to be?” Lance turned to squint at Keith as he took off his shirt.

            “No, I do, I do!” Keith averted his eyes and blushed. “I’m gonna go change. See you out there.” He booked it to the bathroom before Lance had a chance to say anything.

* * *

 

            “That’s it,” Hunk said, sticking a fork in the mashed potatoes. “I’m just going to start bringing lunch.”

            “Can you bring some for me?” Lance moaned, poking at a cup of ‘pudding’ with a spoon.

            “Me too?” Pidge whined. They hadn’t even bothered to get a tray.

            “I see what you guys mean.” Keith was slightly green from the hesitant bite he’d taken of the meatloaf. “I think I’ve got dysentery.”

            “I think that’s what was on your plate,” Pidge said grouchily. “How do they expect us to go _all day_ with no food?”

            “They’re gonna starve us out,” Keith said dryly. “Make us start eatin’ each other to survive.”

            “You know, I’ve always wondered…” Pidge said after a beat. Hunk stared at them in shock.

            “No! No, we’re totally not doing this. I’m calling my moms.” Lance cheered and Pidge gave Hunk a smug look like they’d been planning that all along. Keith gave Lance a quizzitive glance.

            “Hunk’s moms own the best restaurant in a fifty-mile radius.” He explained. Keith nodded slowly. “It’s this diner, and they’ve got the best milkshakes… Hunk, can we get milkshakes?”

            “Like my mom is gonna let her favourite son go without a milkshake,” Hunk said teasingly.

            “I’m always the favourite,” He said, lounging against the table. “Me and Keith will even pick it up when they get here.”

            “Don’t volunteer Keith for things,” Keith said drily and Pidge snorted.

            “Get used to it.” They said, clapping him on the back.

            “Keith, what do you like to eat?” Hunk asked, moving the phone aside.

            “Uh, whatever. I’m pretty easy,” He said, waving a hand.

            “He wants the burger and fries,” Lance said, looking him up and down. “No tomato.” Keith blinked at him.

            “How do you know I don’t like tomatoes?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow.

            “You look like a boy who doesn’t eat veggies.” Lance snarked. Hunk hung up with his mom and nodded.

            “Oh yeah. Probably never touched a salad in your life.” Keith narrowed his eyes at them.

            “What if I told you I’m a vegetarian?” Hunk’s eyebrows shot up toward his headband and he went to text his mom back.

            “He’s not,” Pidge laughed. “He ate the meatloaf!”

            “That’s not meatloaf,” Lance said, giving the plate a weary look.

            “Good gag, though.” Pidge offered him a fist bump.

            “My mom said it’d be like twenty minutes. Wanna eat in Coran’s room?” They packed up their stuff to head over to Coran’s building and Keith trailed after them.

            “We can just chill here ‘til Hunk’s moms stop by. They’re the best.” Lance gushed, pulling up a patch of grass. Keith followed suit. “So, what brought you to our humble little town?” Keith squinted.

            “A lot of stuff, I guess. Shiro got a job here, and I… had to leave my last school.” Keith finally said.

            “How come?” Lance asked, picking apart a leaf he’d plucked from the grass.

            “That’s complicated,” Keith sighed. He really didn’t want to get into it. Not so soon in their friendship. He’d like to actually keep Lance around for a while, and it felt selfish, but he didn’t want this to crash and burn. Lance gave him a long look.

            “Okay, Mysterious Mullet Man.” Lance finally said. “So, what’s your favourite subject?” They talked about smaller, easier things until a yellow Volkswagen Beetle pulled up to the kerb.

            “Order up!” A chipper woman called from the driver’s window.

            “You guys are the best,” Lance cooed, shooting up from the grass.

            “No problem! Anything for our kids.” The woman in the passenger seat said with a laugh. “Are you guys going to be down to the diner this weekend?”

            “Every Saturday, eight o’clock sharp!” Lance chirped. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,”

            “Okay. See you all then!” The women pulled away after giving Lance a flat box full of takeaway containers.

            “Wow,” Keith said, taking the box from Lance. “They’re really nice.”

            “Yeah. Me and Hunk go way back.” Lance divulged. “Pidge was actually the new kid last year. They moved here with their parents so that they could be closer to their brother’s work.”

            “Oh. What does he do?” Lance chuckled as he held the door open for Keith.

            “That’s the thing. We’re not allowed to know. Some spooky government stuff.” Keith chuckled.

            “Sure, sure.” Lance laughed at his reluctance to believe.

            “C’mon, I bet he works for the FBI or something.” Lance opened the door to the hallway Coran’s room was in.

            “What, like the X-Files or something?” Lance smirked as he opened the door to Coran’s room.

            “Exactly like the X-Files.” Keith made his way to the door to cheers from the rest of the crew.

            “Hello, Keith! Glad to see you’ve made friends so quickly,” Coran said, offering him a seat at the table in the back they were all sitting at.

            “I dunno if I made friends or if friends made me,” Keith said honestly, earning himself a round of laughter.

            “Either way, we’re happy to have you.” Allura broke in, smiling at him. “Tell us about yourself. Where did you move from?”


	3. And The Broomstick Would Never Get Stuck In Traffic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Shiro flex their Big Brother Muscles. Lance learns a bit more about Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man, and Keith lets loose a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! I've decided a few things. One, I turned the rating on this fic _way, waaaaay_ down. Two, any content that would turn this fic into a mature fic will be in a separate part, The Devil In My Bloodstream: After Dark. The chapters that come before and after each entry in After Dark will have a note in them with the corresponding chapter number, so anybody who's interested in that sort of thing won't miss a drop. ;) Thanks for listening!

            That afternoon, Keith waited for Lance by his locker, expecting to bring him down to his bike so they could ride home together.

            “Oh, hey,” Lance called. “What’s up?”

            “Need a ride home?” Keith asked, holding out Shiro’s helmet.

            “Oh, shoot. I forgot to tell you. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have a club meeting to go to, so you can go on home without me.” Keith nodded.

            “Okay. Well, take this home with you, then. So when I come to get you in the morning, you have it.” Lance took it, smiling. “If you still want me to come get you, anyway,” Keith stammered.

            “Oh, no. That’d be… That’d be amazing. Are you going to come to Hunk’s moms’ place tomorrow night? They own the Starlite Dinor, and we always meet up for dinner after we… Well, around 8?” Lance squeaked.

            “Okay. I’ll ask Shiro and let you know. Text you tonight?” Keith asked. Lance grinned.

            “Text you tonight.”

* * *

 

            “Is it tonight?” Lance wheezed.

            “Lance, it’s 3:54 in the afternoon.” Pidge sniffed. “When he texts you, he’ll text you. Now would you make less with the heart eyes and more with the _helping me?”_

            “What, Keith said he’d text you?” Coran asked from next to Hunk.

            “Yeah, I invited him to the Starlite tomorrow,” Lance admitted.

            “Great! That’ll be a great time, I’m sure.” Coran replied, sliding Hunk a few bottles. They clanked and Hunk squawked at the rough treatment of his ingredients. “Apologies, Hunk,”

            “No harm done,” Hunk said, once he was assured it was so. “Why don’t you text him first?”

            “What, do I look desperate?” Lance scoffed. Pidge hit him with a circuit board as the rest of the team said in unison:

            “Yes!”

 

**lance: So, did you ask Shiro?**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: uh, yeah. he said i can go, but he has to drop me off and pick me up. not allowed to take the bike out after dark.**

**lance: That’s cool! He can probably come too if he wants. Allura and Coran are gonna be there.**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: lemme ask him**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: he says he’ll stay! thanks for asking.**

* * *

 

           “Keith, you look fine.” Shiro chuckled.

            “Fine like fine, or fine like ‘You’re my little brother and I’m supposed to tell you that you look fine,’?” Keith asked, eyes wild beneath his bangs. His hair gave him pause. “Do I have a mullet?” Shiro burst into laughter.

            “A little,” He admitted. Keith gasped and tore into the bathroom. “No, no. We can figure out a hairdresser tomorrow if you want, but we’re going to be late if we don’t leave soon.” Keith let out a sigh that sounded like steam escaping a kettle.

            “Okay. Let’s go.”

            They pulled up to the diner and Keith had managed to let some of the tension out of his shoulders. Shiro leaned over and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

            “Everything’s gonna be just fine. They’re nice kids, you’re a good kid. Just be yourself.” Shiro said soothingly. Keith let his head tip forward onto his brother’s shoulder.

            “But myself is an asshole!” He groaned and Shiro cackled at him.

            “Well, _myself_ is really hungry and wants to check out these milkshakes.” Shiro laughed. “Come on, they’ve been nice to you all week.”

            “But this is Saturday! We’re not at school anymore,” Keith wheezed a bit and Shiro let him curl up in the passenger seat. Keith’s hands felt clammy under his gloves and the car felt too small.

            “If you feel uncomfortable, we can come back out to the car and we will go right home,” Shiro said, becoming serious. “I’ll tell them that I have an appointment early tomorrow morning and you have to come home with me.” Keith blinked at him.

            “Really?” Shiro nodded.

            “Yep. Remember when Mom always used to play the bad guy when you needed to come home?” Shiro brushed the hair out of Keith’s eyes after he nodded. “Well, that’s my job, now. I’ll be Big Bad Brother who makes you come home if you’re uncomfortable. Text me and I’ll call you anytime, okay? You’re safe.” Keith nodded. “You ready to go get some hamburgers?” Keith cracked a grin and popped his door open.

            “Ready.”

* * *

            “Now, see here,” Keith growled. He was standing, and everyone around the table watched he and Lance with a degree of amusement. “I’m telling you that I saw a jackalope in the desert when I was a kid and I won’t take no for an answer!”

            “And I’m tellin’ you that jackalopes aren’t real, never have been, never will be!” Lance snarled. “You’re full of shit up to here!” Lance stuck a hand out at the level of Keith’s head. “Right to the mullet.”

            “It’s not a mullet!” Keith groaned. Hunk’s mom, Lisa, set down another cherry and cookies n’ cream milkshake for Keith and a peanut butter and banana for Shiro. Shiro and Lisa shared a fond look at the two fighting boys.

            “Is too! Longer in the back than it is in the front. Mullet.” Lance said, slurping down the last of his chocolate strawberry milkshake as he flopped back down into the booth. Keith exclaimed wordlessly and slumped into his seat, taking a deep drink of his milkshake. He knew his face was flushed, but from just realizing he’d been in Lance’s face for ten minutes or from the _act_ of being in Lance’s face for the past ten minutes. Shiro watched him amusedly from across the booth and gave him a look. He knew the one well. Are you okay? He grinned back at Shiro. Doin’ fine.

            “So, jackalopes aside,” Hunk drawled, grinning between Lance and Keith. “What’s your favourite animal?”

* * *

 

            They lingered for an hour after the restaurant closed. Hunk’s parents had tossed him the keys and asked that he lock up before he had Pidge drop him off at home. Shiro ended up hitting it off pretty well with Allura and Coran and seemed pretty chuffed to make a few work friends. Pidge ended up finding out that Keith played all the same video games that they did and tried to beg Shiro to let him go home with them. One frantic look from Keith made Shiro chuckle.

            “Sorry, Pidge, but Keith turns into a pumpkin in about an hour. Next weekend, if he wants to come over he can come over.” Pidge whined but ended up knuckle touching Shiro in grim agreement.

            “Next weekend, Keith, your ass is grass,” Pidge promised. Keith grinned and give them a knuckle touch as well. The group went their separate ways and Keith melted into the passenger seat.

            “Reaching your capacity, bro?” Shiro chuckled. Keith’s eyes flicked to the clock.

            “So’s my chest,” Keith wheezed. “It’s been like eighteen hours, plus gym.” Shiro started the car and glared at Keith.

            “Plus gym? Keith, you’re gonna snap a rib,” Shiro admonished. Keith waved a hand in the air, dismissing him without summoning the words. Shiro wouldn’t take that for an answer, however, and waited for Keith to catch his breath.

            “Lance, Hunk and Pidge are all in that class with me. I have to.” He said quietly. Shiro nodded for a few moments before speaking again.

            “What about a sports bra, or tape?” Keith bared his teeth. “I know. The dysphoria’s really bad. Just take it easy in gym, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”

            “I’m sorry,” Keith finally muttered. They were nearly home.

            “Sorry for what?” Shiro asked.

            “I’m always freakin’ you out,” Keith replied. They got out of the car quietly and Shiro let Keith take his binder off before hovering in his doorway.

            “You do freak me out, but that’s only because you’re my little brother. You could be the safest, most careful little brother on the face of the planet and I’d still be afraid for you.” Shiro wrapped his arm around his middle and looked to the side. “Since Mom and Dad… I always feel like I could do more, you know?”

            “Shiro, you do everything,” Keith said, voice breaking. “Literally everything, you’re the best. And you were hurt,” Shiro screwed his face up. “I’m just happy you’re still here.” There was a long pause where Keith tugged on his shirt and Shiro stared a hole in Keith’s bedding. “Wanna watch X-Files with me?” Keith broke the silence. Shiro chuckled and nodded. “C’mon.” They hunkered down on Keith’s bed. Keith’s TV was sitting on a box in the corner of his room, and his DVDs were stacked up all around it.

            “Are you ever going to unpack?” Shiro asked from underneath one of Keith’s nine thousand throw blankets.

            “Yeah. Maybe five minutes before I move out for college.” Keith said, grinning. “I’m gonna get some tea. You want?” Shiro smiled and nodded. “Great. Be right back.” He started the episode of X-Files and left Shiro under the blankets in the semi-darkness of his room. While he was waiting for the water to boil, his phone buzzed.

**lance: Do you want to work on the English homework tomorrow?**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: the play thing?**

**lance: Yeah! Did you already read the play?**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: yeah. so we just have to fill out that packet?**

**lance: Yeah! Wanna do it together?**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: sure! your place or mine?**

**lance: Definitely yours. I like you too much to subject you to my house.**

            The whistling of the kettle tore Keith’s attention away from the last text. He mechanically made the tea. “I like you too much”?! He wheezed, but he wasn’t sure where the wheezing from the binder stopped and where the wheezing from the text began. He carried the mugs of tea into the bedroom, where Shiro looked like he had become one with the blanket fort.

            “This episode always gets me.” Shiro began. “What kind of therapist just leaves a kid in a room with a doll and calls it ‘therapy’?” Keith chuckled.

            “I dunno man, but she later psychically blows up a fish tank, and her therapy is the thing you’re gonna question?” Shiro took a drag of his tea.

            “It’s the X-Files, man. There’s a modicum of crazy you deal with.” Keith built his own blanket fort and hunkered down.

            They sipped their tea and watched a few episodes in relative silence until Keith’s head lolled onto Shiro’s shoulder. Luckily for Shiro, Keith sat on his right side so he could finish off his own tea and set Keith’s on another box by his headboard. Shiro let the DVD play out before attempting to extricate himself from the blanket fort.

            “Hey, Keith.” Keith stirred but buried his face deeper in the blankets wrapped around Shiro. “Keith, buddy, I gotta get up.”

            “Stay. Like we did when we were kids.” Keith said after a beat. “I could tell you a scary story and you could tell me you’re not scared but ask to sleep with the lights on.” Shiro chuckled.

            “I have PT tomorrow morning at eight. You’re not gonna want me in here, waking you up.” Keith groaned.

            “I’ll go with you,” Keith promised.

            “Okay,” Shiro said, frowning at his brother. “Are you alright?” Shiro slid down the headboard and the brothers laid shoulder-to-shoulder, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars that Keith made Shiro help him stick up there two days previous.

            “What do you think Mom and Dad would’ve thought about Lance?” Keith asked. Shiro sighed, and when Keith looked over, Shiro’s face was pinched in thought.

            “Dad would probably get this face on,” Shiro rolled half onto his side and made their dad’s ‘Serious Face Number Two’. Keith scrunched his nose with a snort. “And ask you the question. ‘When I was a boy, my father would tell me that you could judge a man’s character by the company he keeps. Now, my son. What does Lance say about you?’” Shiro barely kept his impersonation together long enough to finish the sentence before the two were laughing.

            “God, you sound just like him!” Keith said between peals of laughter.

            “Mom always said they just cloned Dad to get me.” Shiro wiggled his fingers and raised his eyebrows and Keith snorted again. “After I hit my growth spurt, I'd scare Mom in the hallway all the time. I guess we walk exactly the same. Used to be able to write exactly like him, too.” Keith grinned.

            “I remember. How do you think I went on all those field trips?” Shiro gave him a sad smile and he glanced down at the open palm of his hand. Keith felt a fishhook latch behind his sternum and tug.

            “I was right-handed,” Shiro said quietly. There was a long silence. Keith burrowed deeper into the blankets and got comfortable. Shiro didn’t move.

            “I’m so sorry, Takashi,” Keith said quietly. “If I would’ve—“

            “No,” Shiro said quietly. “We’ve been through this over and over.”

            “And we’ll go through it again.” Keith insisted. “If I would have been in that car to begin with, if you guys didn’t have to turn around and come get me, everything would’ve been different.”

            “And it’s not. It’s not different. We can’t make it different. All we can do is make the best of what’s going on.” Shiro said hollowly.

            “Right.” Keith spat and looked back up at the stars. He’d tried to get the constellations right, but they were so much farther south now. His constellation maps were somewhere in a box, and he didn’t trust the internet. “You can’t tell me you aren’t mad.”

            “Of course I’m mad,” Shiro said, in a tone of voice that belied the way he clutched at the blanket across his stomach. “I’m livid. Never been angrier in my life.” Keith, shocked to his toes, looked over at Shiro. His eyebrows were knit together and a muscle in his jaw jumped. “I’m pissed at the guy driving the truck. I’m pissed at the bartender who kept giving him drinks. I’m pissed at every red light between where we wrecked and where he was parked for not giving us more time… I’m pissed at God, for not _giving us more time._ ” Shiro’s hand ghosted over his nose. where one of the deepest marks of that night sat. He stared up at the stars, taking over Keith’s place at the vigil. A few heartbeats passed before Shiro’s face took on a mask of dark humour. “I’d give my right arm for some more time.”

            “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Keith huffed, but they were both smiling the same wry grin. “That was horrible.”

            “It’s funny,” Shiro whispered. He was beginning to feel the pull of sleep. “You got an alarm set?”

            “You gotta be there at eight?” Keith asked muzzily. Shiro nodded. “Ok. Seven thirty good?” Shiro nodded again. “Got it. ‘Night, bro.”

            “Night, Keith.”

* * *

 

            “He wants to come here?” Shiro said, parking the car. Keith nodded and handed Shiro his phone. Shiro, realizing it was far too early for his little brother to be any kind of verbal. “He likes you,” Shiro cooed and Keith glared darkly. “No, that’s totally fine. I’ll stay upstairs, and _you two will stay downstairs._ ” Shiro emphasized. Keith’s eyes widened and he turned pink. “Are you going to pick him up?” Keith nodded. “He still has my helmet?” Another nod. “Okay. Wake up a little bit more and go get him.” Keith zoned out in the passenger seat for a few more minutes as Shiro played on his phone in the driver’s seat. He didn’t want to leave Keith in the car by himself this early in the morning. Last time he’d made that mistake, Keith missed his therapy appointment by two hours and was peacefully curled up for a nap like a cat in the sun. Keith got moving after five minutes. “Good to go?”

            “Yeah,” Keith croaked.

            “Alright. I’m gonna go in and shower, then I’ll just be grading papers in my room. Text me if you need me.” Keith nodded at him and clambered out of the car. “Please, please text me when you get there.”

            “Okay.” Keith shot him a thumbs up and Shiro shook his head.

            Keith pulled into Lance’s driveway and immediately texted his brother. There were the three blinking dots seconds after Shiro viewed the message, and Keith slid the phone back into his pocket as Lance bounded out the door.

            “Hey!” He sang. “Good morning, mullet head!” Keith glared blearily at him.

            “Please don’t tell me you’re a morning person,” He said stiffly.

            “I’m going to go ahead and assume you aren’t.” Lance laughed, Shiro’s black helmet tucked under his arm. “Ready to go?” Keith pulled his phone back out of his pocket and texted Shiro right back that he was leaving.

            “Yep. Hop on.”

* * *

 

            “Okay wait,” Keith held up a hand. “So he fucks his own mom.”

            “Yep.” Lance said, popping the ‘p’ and taking a sip of soda.

            “But he doesn’t know? I feel like I’d know.” Keith said, staring down at his book.

            “I mean, you might not. He never met his mom.” Lance offered, shrugging. “I dunno if I’d be able to pick my mom out of a crowd had she not raised me.”

            “I don’t know my mom either,” Keith offered quietly.

            “Oh,” Lance said, blinking. “Wait, you and Shiro…?”

            “He’s my adopted brother.” Keith supplied. “Our parents were technically his.” Lance nodded a few times.

            “Were?” He asked quietly. Keith nodded once and Lance’s face crumpled. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean to snoop,”

            “No, it’s okay.” Keith swiped his nose on his arm and blinked a few times. “It’s just touchy.”

            “Well, duh,” Lance said gently. He took a napkin out of the holder in the middle of the table and passed it to Keith. “I’m gonna get some more soda. Want some?” Keith nodded, not able to talk past the lump in his throat. Lance, sensing the oncoming storm, hopped up and went into the kitchen to give Keith some privacy. “After we get done with this packet, we can check out some videos I found on the internet…” Lance chattered on for the few minutes it took Keith to have his Breakdown Lite and pull himself back together. He came back into the dining room after Keith had blown his nose a few times. “Tah-dah. Refreshments.”

            “Refreshments.” Keith echoed. “Thanks, Lance.” The tone of his voice told Lance he was thanking him for more than the drink.

            “No problem. Now, you said you read this, but for some reason, I don’t believe you.”


	4. And He'd Look So Fly On A Broomstick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith strangles his phone in the process of trying to wring out his emotions, and Lance has one of seven minor cardiac events.

            Lance was waiting on his porch the following morning. Keith couldn’t help but think that he lit up when he heard the motorcycle come up his driveway.

            “Good morning!” He crowed. “Did you eat and everything?”

            “Uh, yeah,” Keith assured. Lance gave him a lopsided grin.

            “Mama’s been trying to get you to come inside all last week so she could feed you and tell you that you’re too skinny.” He admitted. “The only one she leaves alone is Hunk, and even then she makes sure he’s drinking whole milk and not skim.” Keith chuckled.

            “She’d probably die at our place, then. Me and Shiro are lactose intolerant.” Lance chuckled.

            “She’d ask you how you expect to milk a soybean.” They laughed at that, and Lance put on Shiro’s helmet.

            “So did you and Shiro, er, Mr. Shirogane?” He stuttered. Keith laughed again.

            “You can call him Shiro when we’re not at school.” Lance nodded gratefully.

            “You guys have a good time Saturday? We hang out at the Starlite all the time, and if you guys want, you can always be invited,” Lance babbled. “Coran’s always on the lookout for more people to strangle with his old stories, and Allura was probably grateful for the break from our idiocy,”

            “We did,” Keith broke in, starting his bike. “If you’d have us again, we’d love to come.” Lance was glad Keith stopped him from making a complete ass of himself.

            “Great! Yeah, we usually go every Saturday, but sometimes after the one club meeting we’ll stop by.” Keith nodded.

            “What club is it? Shiro’s been bugging me to join clubs,” They pulled out of the driveway.

            “Oh, nothing good! It’s uh, a young leadership thing. Super boring, but Mama wants it on my resume, you know,” Lance babbled. Keith frowned.

            “That sounds like exactly the thing that Shiro would want me to join,” He sighed. He tried to tell Shiro that he didn’t have a leadership bone in his body, but Shiro had insisted.

            “You know what club is _really_ fun,” Lance began. He was essentially yelling in the general direction of Keith’s right ear. “Is drama club. Boy, I love drama club,”

 

* * *

 

            “So you stalled him.” Hunk said from the stove. Lance sighed and leaned on Pidge’s workbench. They squawked and batted him away before turning back to the robot-in-process.

            “Sure, but for how long? And besides, I feel like this is just cruel,” Lance replied.

            “Can I get a hand?” Pidge broke on. Lance rolled his eyes and reached out for the wires Pidge was holding. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his mind. Pidge would get pissed if he accidentally fried Rover while thinking about a certain mullet. “A little more juice,” Lance upped the amps flowing through his body until Pidge called for a halt.

            “You got it?” Lance asked.

            “Yep. This should actually be it,” Pidge put their palms on the creation and their eyes flashed lime green. “Yeah. That’s it. You folks ready?”

            “Yeah, go ahead.” Hunk said, eagerly watching the robot. Pidge whistled.

            “Rover! Here boy,” The pyramidal robot shook to life and picked itself up off the workbench. “Good boy,” Pidge cooed. The newly-dubbed Rover hovered behind them. “It’s an assistant bot! Rover here has similar hacking magic that I do. Even though it’s limited, he can open doors, get data from servers, bring down internet connectivity, and even run a few basic scripts!” Lance stared at the thing blankly. “Oh, and he’s got WiFi.”

            “What the password?” Lance tugged his phone out.

            “You’re already connected,” Pidge said smugly.

            “This is why I love you, Pidgeon,” Lance said, smiling. One thing made him pause. “How _do_ you do that, anyway?”

            “Oh, I can get into your phones with my head like I do mine.” Lance paled and gasped. “You should really clear your cache more often.”

            “You can’t go looking through a guy’s search history like that! It’s-it’s-it’s illegal, and immoral, and rude!” Hunk chuckled.

            “What are you so scared of, Lance? Nervous Pidge will find all the searches for mullets?” Pidge cackled.

            “Not just any mullets, motorcycle mullets,” Pidge taunted. Lance, outraged, pounced on Pidge and clamped a hand over their mouth. In retaliation, Pidge licked his palm, but Lance laughed darkly.

            “You forget: I’m the oldest of five. I’m not afraid of you, Pidgeon.” Pidge stilled for a moment, and Lance shrieked in pain. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

            “Be afraid.” Lance held up his hand.

            “The little gremlin _bit me!”_ Hunk laughed.

            “Need some ointment?” He offered. He finished stirring the mixture in the pot thirty-three times, clockwise, and opened up a drawer.

            “Got anything that’ll make sure I don’t get rabies?” Lance growled, making his way over to Hunk’s workstation. “I juice up Rover and this is the thanks I get,”

            “Lance, I know that you think keeping Keith in the dark is terrible and all, and I agree. I like him. Maybe not as much as you,” Lance glared. “Okay, definitely not as much as you, but I like him a lot. I want him to be our friend. But he can’t know about this. It keeps us safe, and it’ll keep him safe too, in the long run.” Hunk said, smoothing some balm on Lance’s hand. The teeth marks went away immediately and Lance was met with a pleasant cooling sensation.

            “But what if he asks us to hang out?” Lance said, flopping down on one of the bar stools near Hunk.

            “Can you heat this?” Hunk murmured, handing Lance an Erlenmeyer flask. “About 300 degrees.” Lance placed a palm on the bottom of the flask and continued to swirl it around as it bubbled. “Then you tell him what we always do: we’re busy, want to hang tomorrow?”

            “Hunk, we’ve never had to tell anybody that,” Pidge said, inspecting Rover’s exterior.

            “Everybody we’ve ever been friends with is in here.” Lance gestured with his free hand. “Keith is… Different. And besides,” Lance said, face darkening. “We’ve gone and ruined him. I’d say that for his sake, we should let him go. Make him go be friends with somebody else. But everybody’s already seen him with us.”

            “Nobody wants to be friends with the circus freaks,” Pidge grumbled.

            “Hey.” Hunk said sternly. “No using the f-word.”

            “Fucking. Freaks.” Lance sighed. Hunk bristled but continued mincing a root that smelled like Lance’s mom’s cooking to his nose, but Hunk’s grandma’s incense to his. “We’re going to have to do something soon. He’s definitely on to us.”

* * *

             “He’s hiding something,” Keith said into Shiro’s carpet.

            “You know I haven’t vacuumed up here since we moved in,” Shiro said mildly. There was a long pause, where Keith made it clear that he wouldn’t comment on that statement, and Shiro sighed. “Why do you think he’s hiding something?”

            “He won’t tell me what club he, Hunk, and Pidge are in. He keeps being so secretive about the club and what they do there, and when I told him I’m supposed to join clubs, he tried to tell me I didn’t want to join their club.” Keith frowned. “What could they be doing that they don’t want me around?”

            “Well, when do they meet?” Shiro shuffled a few papers around on his desk. “I’ve got the full list of clubs here, and we could figure out what club it is, see if he’s just embarrassed about a hobby.” Keith peeled himself off the floor and flopped down on the corner of Shiro’s bed closest to his desk.

            “What hobby would he be embarrassed about?” Keith snorted.

            “You never know. What if he’s in like, horse riding club?” Shiro said, shrugging. “When do they meet?”

            “He said they meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school.” Shiro scanned the pages and frowned, flipping back and forth.

            “None of the clubs meet during all three of those days. You sure it wasn’t two different ones?” Keith crossed his arms.

            “He kept talking about it like it was just the one, and then when I asked him, he said it was a youth leadership club. Singular.” Shiro leaned back in his chair and mirrored Keith, gripping his bicep. Both boys had the same expression on, one that they’d jokingly label their dad’s ‘Serious Expression Number One’ had they not been deep in considerations.

            “Why would he lie about being in a club in the first place, if it wasn’t even a club?” Shiro wondered aloud. “And you’re sure he’s doing stuff at this time, and not just trying to cover for needing to be home?”

            “I’m not sure. He doesn’t get a ride home from me those days.” Keith offered. “And he seemed really jazzed about riding to and from school with me, for some reason,” Shiro grinned.

            “Oh, I could think of a few reasons,” Keith turned red and mashed his face with his palms. “I’m just saying, I used to take prospective dates out on rides around the lake, just them, me, the bike,”

            “Focus, Shiro.” Keith snapped. “Maybe I’ll invite him over Wednesday, then see what he says.”

            “I know this is revolutionary,” Shiro began. “But why don’t you just ask him? Outright, no crazy plots or plans.”

            “But he might not answer me,” Keith frowned.

            “And that’s well within his rights, Keith. The two of you don’t owe each other anything. If he wants to have secrets, he’s allowed. Just let him know that he doesn’t have to lie to you about it because that’s the part you’re pissed about, isn’t it?” Shiro said gently. Keith sighed and flopped back onto the bed.

            “Yeah. I don’t care what he’s doing,” Keith waved a hand in the air. “He could be sitting at his house in his underwear watching TV after school three days a week, I don’t care. I just want him to be honest about it.” Keith took a few deep breaths, and Shiro let him have his moment. “Why are you in my brain?” Shiro laughed.

            “Because that’s my job, little bro. Text your friend. I need to finish grading these papers.” Keith sat up and slid down from the bed. He paused on his way past Shiro, hooking him into a hug from behind.

            “Thanks,” Keith said quietly. “You’re the best.”

* * *

 

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: hey, do you have a minute?**

**lance: Yeah! What’s up?**

**lance: You okay?**

**lance: Keith?**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: i was just wondering, i guess. i know that the thing you go to after school isn’t a club, which is totally fine. we just met and i don’t want to give you the wrong idea but like, you don’t have to lie to me. you’ve got a thing with hunk and pidge mondays, wednesdays, and fridays, and that’s cool. i respect your privacy. but like, it kinda messed with me that you said it was a club and it wasn’t, you know?**  

* * *

 

            “We have to tell him,” Lance said, looking from his phone to Hunk, to Pidge. “I didn’t think he’d be upset about it.” Hunk frowned deeply, reading the text again.

            “Lance’s right.” Pidge finally said. “What would we think if the situation was reversed?”

            “I’d think you didn’t like me,” Lance said quietly. “That you were only friends with me because I’m the new kid.”

            “That’s not true, and you know that.” Hunk said. “He fits with us so well. He fights with you, messes up Pidge’s hair, is nice to my parents.” Hunk sighed. “But what if he tells someone? We don’t know if we can trust him.”

            “Who’s going to believe him if he does tell?” Pidge replied. “He’s a new kid, and while everybody thinks we’re weird, I don’t think they immediately jump to ‘witches’.”

            “What do I say?” Lance said, thumbs hovering over the keyboard. Hunk drummed his hands on the steering wheel.

            “Ask him if he wants us to come over.” Hunk finally said. Lance replied, and his phone lit up again almost instantaneously.

            “He said sure. Shiro’s home.” Lance reported. “Should we tell him, too?”

            “He’s going to know the second we leave anyway,” Pidge said wryly. “Matt already knows you like Keith.” Lance didn’t even object as Hunk turned the car around.

            “Call your parents, then call mine.” Hunk sighed.

* * *

 

            “Uh, Shiro?” Keith knocked on the doorframe. Shiro turned around in his chair.

            “Did you ask?” Keith nodded. “What did he say?” Keith passed the phone over and Shiro read through the messages. “You worded that really well. I’m proud of you.” Shiro murmured. “They’re coming over _now?_ ”

            “I guess,” Keith mumbled. “Is that okay?”

            “Yeah, I guess, but how suspicious can you get?” Shiro replied, frowning and handing back the phone. “Do you mind if I grade papers at the table?”

            “No, absolutely,” Keith agreed. He helped Shiro schlepp his teetering stack of lab reports and discussion questions to the kitchen table, and tried to make it look like he’d been there awhile. Keith started tea, forgot about tea, and tried to make a new cup before Shiro pointed out his old cup cooling on the counter.

            “Hey. They’re not going to do anything crazy.” Shiro reassured him. “They’re a bunch of high school students. How bad can it be?”

            A knock at the front door had Keith running through the scenarios in his head. What if they’re drug lords? What if they’re assassins? What if they’re drug lord assassin spies _for the government_?

            “Are you gonna get it or am I?” Shiro asked flatly. Keith’s legs carried him, of their own will, to the front door.

            “Hey,” He gasped. “Do you guys want some tea?” Hunk and Lance shared a look as Pidge flopped down on the couch.

            “Sure,” Hunk said, forcibly light. “What kind do you have?”

            “Uh, some green, some herbal,” Keith said. “I’m partial to a lavender chamomile,”

            “Oh, wow, can I have some of that? It’s good for, uh. For nerves.” Hunk tugged on his shirt.

            “Nerds,” Pidge hissed, grinning. It relieved some of the tension.

            “Hi, guys,” Shiro greeted from the table. “How’s Monday treating you?”

            “As good as Mondays can, I guess,” Lance said, chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck. “What about you?”

            “I guess I learned the first rule of being a high school teacher,” Shiro said as Keith glared the tea kettle into submission. “Weekend homework means Monday grading.” Hunk and Pidge groaned.

            “You’re telling me,” Pidge whined. Shiro laughed, and Keith juggled four mugs of tea, depositing one in front of each person, before going back to clutch his like a lifeline. He perched on the couch with Lance, and the four looked at each other with varying degrees of mild panic.

            “Well, this is delightful,” Pidge snarked.

            “Pidgeon,” Lance snapped, before taking a deep breath. “Look at us. We’re idiots,” He breathed, chuckling. “Alright, so… We’ve never done this before, so, I guess it’s just going to be awkward.” Shiro could hear Keith grinding his teeth from the kitchen. “We’ve been secretive, but we think it’s with good reason. What we’re going to show you—“ Hunk hissed, “Show?” and Lance waved a hand at him. “What we’re going to show you will probably freak you out, and we don’t want to lose a friend over it, so just… Keep an open mind, alright?”

            “Lance,” Keith sighed, and in his driest voice, he continued. “I once sat outside with a flashlight and a tape recorder, trying to catch Bigfoot mating calls on tape. If my mind got any more open, the damn thing would fall out.” Shiro snorted into his tea.

            “You might want to come over for this, too, Shiro,” Pidge said seriously.

            “I’ll go first,” Lance said, setting his tea back down on the coffee table. Shiro drifted into the living room and leant against the wall, watching Lance curiously. “Here goes nothing.” He put his hand out, palm up, and shut his eyes. For a moment, Keith wondered what in the hell he was supposed to be watching, until a small flame flickered to life in the centre of Lance’s palm. It danced for a heartbeat before Lance took a deep breath and it grew. It engulfed his whole hand, then his arm, and began to turn blue. Keith could feel the heat radiating off of him. As quickly as it came, it vanished, and Lance shifted. He held his hands about a foot apart in front of him, and in moments, a spark of electricity jumped between them. Keith jumped, and finally, Lance took a deep, deep breath and exhaled onto the fingertips of his hand. Ice crystals formed around his fingers and icicles dangled down his wrist. He opened his eyes, and the worry there made Keith’s heart clench.

            “Oh,” Keith said. “What…?”

            “I can do wind, too, but… Not in the house.” Lance said sheepishly.

            “I appreciate it,” Shiro said levelly. Keith looked over at him, and his eyes were blown wide.

            “You guys too?” Keith asked, voice cracking.

            “Uh, kinda.” Hunk supplied. “Mine’s not really, uh, demonstrative. I do potions?” He said. It sounded like a question. “If you ever got a headache, give me a buzz,”

            “And I’m a techromancer.” Pidge supplied with a grin.

            “No, no, no. Lame,” Lance cut in. “You can’t just say ‘techromancer’, you sound like a bad eighties sci-fi flick,”

            “What if that’s the plan?” Pidge scoffed. “Even a _bad_ eighties sci-fi flick is better than a _good_ new sci-fi flick,”

            “Name one!” Lance exclaimed.

            “Uh, Blade Runner,” Keith said, automatically. “Please, it’s a masterpiece,”

            “Thank you,” Pidge said, waving a hand at Keith.

            “The Terminator? Back to the Future?” Keith continued.

            “We’re forgetting the most important one,” Shiro said, raising his hand. “Flash Gordon.”

            “Just because you have a hard-on for Flash,” Keith scoffed.

            “Who _doesn’t_ have a hard-on for Flash?” Lance asked incredulously.

            “Okay, I really, _really_ , don’t want to talk about any hard-on, ever.” Hunk said, looking violently green. There was a moment where everyone in the room tried to process the past ten minutes, and Keith broke the silence with a wheezing laugh. Lance soon joined in, and even Hunk managed to chuckle.

            “Are we okay?” Lance finally asked. The same worried look from before came back, and Keith nodded once.

            “We’re okay.”


	5. Get It? I Said "Fly". He's Gonna Look So "Fly" On A Broomstick.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frozen yoghurt kisses are sweet, in more ways than one.

            “Tuesdays are the worst,” Keith moaned. Shiro raised an eyebrow at him.

            “You picked Tuesdays because they’re the most unassuming,” He argued. Keith frowned at the needle in Shiro’s hand. “If you keep tensing up, you’ll just bruise.”

            “I know, I know.” Keith flapped his hand at Shiro and turned around. “Don’t tell me when you’re gonna do it, just—OW!”

            “You said not to tell you,” Shiro said wryly. Keith whipped around the moment he was in the clear and batted at him with both hands. “Come on, come on, I’ve still got the needle,” Shiro put the needle in their sharps jar and handed Keith a band-aid. “That’s all you, lil bro.”

            “You stab me _and_ make me do my own band-aid,” Keith grumbled, grinning. “What kinda big brother are you?”

            “One that hasn’t yet figured out how to open a band-aid one-handed,” Shiro chuckled. “Are you going to pick up Lance this morning?” Keith nodded.

            “Yeah.” He said, leaning on the counter. “What did you think of yesterday?” Shiro set his jaw and nodded a few times.

            “If I wasn’t there to see it, I wouldn’t have believed you.” He said honestly. “I don’t know what to make of it.”

            “Me neither. My general plan is to just ignore it until I can’t anymore, I guess,” Keith said with a bewildered shrug.

            “That’s how you deal with everything.” Shiro ribbed. Keith couldn’t even argue. “Get out of here now, and you’ll have time to pick up Lance and have a doughnut or something. T shot day treat, on me.” Shiro gave Keith some cash.

            “Okay!” Keith chirped. “See you at school,”

* * *

 

            “Are you trying to bribe me with pastries?” Lance teased, taking a healthy bite of his doughnut. They leant against Keith’s bike in the gas station parking lot. “Because whatever you want, _yes,_ ” Keith laughed and a smattering of sprinkles flew off of his doughnut. Lance felt a blush creep up his neck at the sight of Keith covering his mouth and grinning with icing on his lip.

            “No, it’s just a T—treat from Shiro. Tuesdays.” Keith gulped. The grin turned into a grimace. Lance wasn’t sure what nerve he hit, but he was reluctant to push any farther. “So. This whole… Club thing. What do you do for it?” Lance knew a subject change when he saw one, and he took the opportunity to joke and flirt his way back into one of Keith’s genuine smiles. Too soon, they had to toss their garbage and make their way to school.

            “Next Tuesday, it’s my turn for a treat,” Lance promised. Keith blushed at his big smile and jammed his helmet on his head to cover it.

            “I’ll hold you to it.”

* * *

 

            They had a standing order at the Starlite for lunches now. Keith had tried to pay Hunk’s parents in multiple crafty ways, but they wouldn’t take his money.

            “Listen, they’re not gonna let you pay for lunch,” Hunk said, smiling. “It’s really cool that you try though. I appreciate it.” Keith shrugged.

            “It’s really good food, and they don’t have to deliver.” Pidge grinned at him.

            “What, were you gonna go pick it up on your moped?” A deadly silence fell over the room. Wisely, Lance slid his chair out from between Keith and Pidge.

            “My what?” Keith said quietly.

            “No,” Shiro said, standing up. “No, no.” Pidge looked, wide-eyed, between Shiro and Keith.

            “I was teasing,” They squeaked. There was another beat of silence before Keith launched himself at Pidge, going in for the kill. “No!” Pidge wailed. “Shiro, he’s killing me!”

            “Whoa, nice noogie technique,” Lance assessed. “You’re gonna have a bald spot, Pidgeon.” The fracas continued as Pidge desperately tried to get away. Keith was hell-bent on trying to get them to say ‘Uncle’, and Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose as Allura and Coran watched with mounting horror. They finally relented after being put in a headlock.

            “Jesus,” Hunk breathed.

            “He had absolutely nothing to do with all that,” Lance said, shaking his head. “You should’ve known better than to insult a man’s bike.”

            “Ready to go?” Keith asked. He leant against Lance’s locker again. Lance wondered if he practised looking that cool, or if it just came to him naturally. His throat was dry, and he cleared it in a clear attempt to slow down his racing thoughts.

            “Yep! Just let me swap some books out,” He chirped, grateful that he sounded at least a little normal. Keith bent his head to his phone.

 

 

 

**Keith Kogane: i’m gonna do it**

**shiro: GO GO GO**

            There was a string of emojis that made Keith smirk at his phone. His brother was such a dork. He watched as Lance looked over his planner and shuffled books around, mentally calculating how long he could put off certain assignments.

            “I was wondering if you were busy later,” Keith asked. He was proud that he didn’t mumble or have a stellar voice malfunction.

            “Uh, how later?” Lance asked absently.

            “Like, after dinner or whatever,” Keith replied, pushing himself off of the lockers. “Shiro took me to this frozen yoghurt place and I was wondering if you wanted to go.”

            “Oh, cool! I think Pidge has stuff to do—“ He watched Keith’s face fall and his heart did a funny lurch. “Wait, you mean… Just us?”

            “Yeah, if you’re about that. I mean, we don’t have to,” Keith mumbled, his hand clapping the back of his neck. “I don’t—I mean,”

            “No, I’d love to!” Lance said. Maybe a little too loudly, because Keith started a little and stared, jaw slack.

            “Really?” He asked and Lance chuckled.

            “Really really.” Keith’s face broke into a grin and Lance couldn’t stop himself from giggling if he wanted to.

            “Okay! Great! I can pick you up?” Keith trailed off, feeling heat bloom across his face.

            “That sounds perfect,” Lance replied, shutting his locker. Lance floated down the stairs and to Allura’s room to get their helmets.

            “Hello, boys,” Allura called cheerfully from the back of the classroom. She was weaving neon-coloured pieces of yarn into a twisted mass of metal and inexplicably had pink paint smeared across her cheekbones. “How was class?”

            “It was great,” Lance breathed. Allura looked at him oddly but chose not to comment. “Just grabbin’ our helmets.” Keith looked slyly at him at the use of ‘our’. The phrase sat right in his chest and made his limbs tingle pleasantly. Allura looked from the misty look on Lance’s face to the small smile on Keith’s and she smiled knowingly.

            “Brilliant. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then.”

            “Do I wear what I was wearing to school?” Keith picked at the spaghetti he’d made. It was his night for dinner, but he didn’t have nearly the amount of cooking experience that Shiro did. He scoffed. “I forgot about a haircut,” Shiro chuckled at how flustered Keith was getting.

            “He’s not going to care about your haircut.” He assured. “Was he as excited as you?” Keith had already given him the full run-down, but Shiro could tell he wanted to dissect the interaction further.

            “He tried to invite the rest of the crew, but then stopped and realized what I was saying,” Keith said, words tumbling out of him quicker than he could moderate. “Does that mean he didn’t want to go? Or that he doesn’t think of me like that? Or—“

            “Keith, the other day when everybody came over and Lance showed us what he can do, he was only looking at you.” Keith stopped and took a deep breath. “He was watching you, to see if you were scared or upset. He had just shown a teacher at his high school what he could do and he didn’t even care.” Keith nodded a few times. “And his face when you said that you were okay with it… He definitely thinks of you like that.”

            “Okay. Okay,” Keith nodded. “Good. Great.” Shiro shook his head and smirked at him.

            “When did you say you’d pick him up?” Keith looked at the clock with panicked eyes.

            “Shit!” He sprung up from the table and pounded up the stairs.

            “That’s not a time, Keith,” Shiro called, laughing. He plunked his dish into the sink and scraped Keith’s untouched spaghetti into a plastic container for when Keith would undoubtedly remember that he was human and get hungry at three in the morning. Keith whirled around in his bedroom, putting on a white tee shirt with the ripped jeans he had been wearing all day. He snatched his jacket and stared at his reflection in the mirror for a few seconds before digging around in his desk drawer for a hair tie. He pulled the straggling strands back in a low ponytail and called it good enough before stomping into his boots and running back down the stairs.

            “Six! I said six!” Keith screeched. Shiro’s gaze slid to the clock on the microwave. 5:55.

            “Please, please don’t drive too crazy,” Shiro said, trying to force calm into his voice. “Text me wh—“

            “When I get there and when I leave!” Keith yelled into the slamming back door. “Love you!” Shiro chuckled and shook his head, but the sound of Keith’s bike revving had him running to the back porch.

            “Goddamn it, Keith!” He shouted as Keith rode the wheelie out that he’d popped in his haste to hit third gear. “That’s crazy! That’s what driving crazy is!”

            Keith slid into Lance’s driveway sideways, peppering the porch with stones. Lance jumped out of the way of the spray with a small shout as Keith threw down the kickstand and ripped off his helmet.

            “Sorry!” Keith shouted. He was breathing heavily and his face was flushed. “I was eating dinner with Shiro and lost track of time,”

            “Keith, it’s 6:01,” Lance laughed, tucking the black helmet under his arm and hopping down the porch steps. “You’re right on time,” Keith frowned at looked at his phone. There were three messages from Shiro. Two were entirely exclamation points.

 

**Keith Kogane: i’m here**

**shiro: YOU BETTER NOT BE**

**shiro: THAT’S A FIFTEEN MINUTE DRIVE KEITH**

**Keith Kogane: uh, sorry**

**shiro: ugh**

**shiro: Have fun on your date.**

            “Ready for some top-notch frozen goodness?” Lance said, swinging his leg over the back of the bike. Keith started the bike back up and pulled out, much, much slower this time.

            They chose seats outside, away from the smattering of groups inside. Lance eyed Keith’s concoction wearily. It was nearly twenty ounces of peanut butter and chocolate frozen yoghurt and covered in Nutella, peanut butter, Reeces’ chunks, and chocolate chips.

            “How are you alive?” Lance asked wearily. His vanilla and strawberries with the little pink popping boba looked about seven times more appetizing now.

            “What do you mean?” Keith asked around the mouthful of peanut butter.

            “Nothin’. You just got a sweet tooth.” Lance said, grinning fondly at him. “It’s cute.” Keith choked and alarmed, Lance handed him his tea. “You okay?” Keith’s face was entirely red, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the oxygen deprivation or from the compliment.

            “You can’t just lay that on a guy while he’s got a mouthful of peanut butter,” Keith spluttered and Lance had the audacity to chuckle at him.

            “Best time, in my opinion.” He leant back in his chair. An uncertain look crossed his features. “So, is this… This is a date, right?” Keith wiped his mouth on his jacket.

            “If you want it to be.” He said softly. “I’d like it to be.” Lance smiled at him, slowly. A soft look crossed his face that Keith hadn’t seen before.

            “Me too.” He reached across the table and took Keith’s hand. Keith grinned and tangled their fingers together.

            “Good.” They finished their frozen yoghurt without any more near-death experiences and the sun was dipping low in the sky before Lance looked down at his phone and winced.

            “I, uh, I have to go.” He said, ducking his head. Keith squeezed his hand once before letting go with a concerned expression.

            “What’s wrong?” Lance fiddled with his phone case, popping one corner on and off his phone.

            “My dad’s home and wants to see me.” He said quietly. “It’s no big deal. I just… I’m not… Can you drop me off at the corner?” Keith felt the air rush out of his body.

            “Oh.” His stomach churned. “It’s me, right?” Lance looked away and took a deep breath.

            “He’s not really… He doesn’t know. Neither does my mom.” Keith nodded.

            “Yeah. I’ll drop you off wherever.” Keith stood and took their garbage to the bin by the door and returned to the table. “Wanna take the long way home?” Lance’s expression smoothed as he nodded. Keith drove slowly, feeling the arms around his waist tighten the closer he got to Lance’s neighbourhood. He stopped at the end of Lance’s block and Lance hopped down.

            “I’m sorry,” Lance said, tugging his helmet off.

            “It’s not your fault,” Keith said automatically. “What are we at school?” He knew what it was like to live separate lives, and he didn’t want to make waves at Lance’s house.

            “We can be whatever you want at school and at the diner,” Lance said firmly. “Just not here.” Keith nodded.

            “Okay, Lance. It’s no problem.” Keith insisted and Lance smiled.

            “Thank you, Keith. I had a really great time.” Lance was very close, Keith noticed. He took off his helmet, eyes hooded by his bangs.

            “Me too.” Keith’s knee bumped into Lance’s and Lance leaned down. Keith’s hand curled around the back of Lance’s head and Lance tasted peanut butter and chocolate. Impossibly sweet. Keith’s heart fluttered under Lance’s hand and Lance smiled into the kiss, knowing that Keith was just as nervous as Lance felt but didn’t show it.

            “See you in the morning,” Lance whispered huskily. Keith nodded once, and grinning, he put his helmet back on and spurred his bike to life.

            “Bright and early.”


	6. Lance Should Also Get A Cape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coming out is rarely a fun experience.

            Shiro came downstairs to a lump of blankets on the couch with Keith’s boots sticking out over the armrest. The lump groaned and Shiro blinked at it.

            “Uh.” Shiro said, stopping in the middle of the hallway with his empty teacup. “Did you forget your lactose pill or did you kiss him?”

            “Both,” The pile of blankets groaned. Shiro set down his mug and moved to the kitchen to get the packet of Lactaid. Midway through shaking a blister pack out he started.

            “Wait, _both!?_ _”_ He yelped. “You guys kissed?” The lump groaned again and he grabbed the blister pack and stuck it in his teeth as he got a glass of water. The lump of blankets mumbled something and shifted slightly to accept the blister pack and the water. “What was that?” Keith emerged from the pile of blankets.

            “He’s not out to his family.” He grumbled after hatching the pill. “He made me drop him off at the end of the block because his dad’s home.” Shiro sat down on the loveseat, tea forgotten.

            “I’m sorry, Keith,” Shiro said, frowning. “He still kissed you, though.”

            “Yeah. He said we can be together at school and the diner, but he’s afraid of his dad I think. He got a text at the end of the date from him and immediately shut down.” Shiro’s frown deepened.

            “That’s hard.” Shiro said simply.

            “Yeah. I just… It’s dumb.” Keith waved it off, finishing the water. The cramps would hopefully lessen soon, but he nudged his boots off and pulled his knees closer.

            “What is?” Shiro asked.

            “If I were normal, there’d be no issue.” Keith said bluntly. Shiro was quiet for a moment, collecting his thoughts. He had to choose his words carefully.

            “You’re just you, Keith. You can’t change his parents or the way they think about you. You can only do your best to understand the situation he’s in.” Keith nodded slowly.

It wasn’t the first time he’d thought about this. A guy he’d liked at his last school had been interested in before he started transitioning. They went on a few dates, and after seeing some pointless action flick, had told Keith he was straight and that it wouldn’t work out. Keith had run out of gas and tears on a country road and had to call Shiro to come pick him up.

“I’m going to go shower,” Keith mumbled. Shiro watched Keith climb the stairs, feet like lead. He ran his hand down his face and sighed. He went into the kitchen after giving himself a moment and made more tea and some popcorn. When he got upstairs, he knocked on Keith’s closed door.

“Yeah?” Came the hoarse response.

“Wanna watch some X-Files?”

* * *

 

            “Hi, Papa,” Lance said, leaning into the door to his dad’s office. His dad waved him in.

            “Close the door,” The lump in Lance’s throat didn’t budge, no matter how many times he gulped. “Come have a seat, son.”

            “How was San Francisco?” Lance asked, plastering a smile on his face.

            “Didn’t get too much sightseeing in,” His dad sighed. The computer behind him on the desk chimed and he turned to take care of whatever email required his attention. Lance gazed at the family photos on the desk as he picked at his cuticles. “How’s school?”

            “Good! Going good.” Lance nodded a few times. He tried to put together a story about Keith in his head that didn’t sound like he had it bad, but words failed him. “There’s a new kid at school. We’re friends now.”

            “That’s good. It’s nice of you to make friends with new kids.” His dad murmured, only half paying attention. “He have a college picked out yet?”

            “I’m not sure. His name’s Keith. His brother teaches at the school now.” His dad hummed.

            “Keith. Good.” His dad finally turned back around. “How’s training been?”

            “Great. I’m still better at fire, but working with Allura and Coran’s really been helping the other stuff too,” Lance reported.

            “Good. Keep practising. Need anything?” Lance shook his head. “Atta boy. I’ve got to make a phone call.” Feeling like he dodged a bullet, Lance stepped out of the office and shut the door behind him. Louisa saw him and waved him into her bedroom.

            “You tell him about your date?” She said quietly. He shook his head. “Okay. Good. I wouldn’t if I were you. He’s in a mood.” Lance knew what that meant.

            “Where’s Mama?” Louisa pointed to their parents’ bedroom. “Okay. Stay in here for a bit, okay?” Louisa nodded. She saw too much for a fifteen-year-old, and it made his heart ache.

            Lance went to the kitchen and got a glass of water and an ice pack. He knocked softly on the door to his parents’ bedroom before cracking the door.

            “Hey, Mama,” He said lowly.

            “Oh, mi hijo pequeño.” His mom said softly.

            “No es un niño pequeño,” Lance chuckled, giving his mom the water and the ice pack. She held it gratefully to her face.

            “You’re right. You’ve become a man, right before my eyes.” She said, a hint of sadness pulling her eyebrows down. “Gracias, Lance.”

            “It’s nothing,” He said, pulling at the same cuticle he’d ripped earlier. “You know Keith? The boy who picks me up on his motorcycle in the mornings?” His mom nodded. “I went on a date with him tonight.” His mom frowned and sighed deeply.

            “Don’t—“ Lance held up a hand.

            “Tell Papa. I know. I really like him, Mama.” His mom nodded, still frowning.

            “I’ll pray for you two.” Not the best answer, but better than he was expecting. “Are you happy?” She asked, after a stretch of silence.

            “Yeah, Mama. He’s sweet.” She nodded once, closing her eyes.

            “Good. Do your homework, cariño.” Lance got up from the edge of the bed and made for the door. “Te quiero, honey. No matter what.”

            “Te quiero, Mama.”

* * *

 

  **Hunkalicious: So how** **’d it go?**

**BFFAEAE: A boy doesn** **’t kiss and tell, Hunk.**

**Gremlin: You know that you just told us you kissed, right?**

**BFFAEAE: Did not.**

**Hunkalicious: Did too.**

**Gremlin: Did too infinity.**

**BFFAEAE: Okay. We kissed. Happy?**

**Hunkalicious: FINALLY**

**Gremlin: Don** **’t celebrate yet. We still have to deal with them, presumably for the rest of our natural lives. With our luck, we** **’ll get reincarnated and still have to deal with them.**

**Hunkalicious: At least there won** **’t be pining. I** **’m allergic to pining.**

**BFFAEAE: Okay, I** **’m feeling hostility here.**

**Gremlin: That** **’s because I** **’m being hostile.**

**BFFAEAE: When aren** **’t you being hostile?**

**Hunkalicious: Sometimes they sleep.**

**Hunkalicious: Not often.**

**Hunkalicious: But sometimes.**

**Gremlin: Tread carefully Hunk. Rover knows your secrets.**

**Hunkalicious: Yeah, keep it that way.**

**BFFAEAE: I told my mom.**

**Gremlin: How** **’d that go? Need me to pick you up?**

**BFFAEAE: No. She said she** **’d pray for us, but that was it.**

**Hunkalicious: You sure? I** **’ve got some cookies and leftover chicken from the restaurant.**

**Gremlin: I** **’ll be over in five.**

* * *

 

            “So, how come you change in the bathroom?” Lance asked before Keith could dart away.

            “Uh. Shy, I guess,” Keith said, shifting on his feet. Lance nodded but narrowed his eyes at him.

            “Yeah, totally.” He murmured. Keith frowned and shook his head. If he was going to do it, he should do it early on.

            “I’ll tell you tomorrow, after Starlite, okay?” Lance paused.

            “Tell me what?” Keith shifted again and frowned, before muttering ‘fuck it’ under his breath and stepping back behind the row of lockers, away from the view of the other guys. He kicked off his boots and tucked them into the locker, heart pounding in his ears. “Keith?” He unzipped his jacket and hung it on the hook and took a deep breath before pulling his tee shirt over his head. Shiro had snagged a red binder for him when he’d first told Shiro how he was feeling, and it was his favourite. He was glad he wasn’t wearing the nude one, actually. It looked a little worse for the wear. “What’s… What’s that?” Lance asked quietly.

            “It’s a binder.” Keith replied, head tucked as he stepped out of his jeans. He kicked himself mentally, the word ‘impulsive’ bouncing frantically around in his brain. He stepped into his shorts and tugged on his other tee shirt before stomping on his tennis shoes. “I’m a transguy.”

            “Oh!” Lance said, still looking puzzled. “Okay. Jeez. You scared me.”

            “What?” Keith said, ever eloquent.

            “Dios mío, I thought… I dunno, I thought it was something crazy.” Lance said, shaking his head. “Thought you had wings or some freaky tattoos, I dunno.” Lance said, chuckling and shaking his head. “Good to go?” Keith shook his head, trying to clear the fuzzy thoughts.

            “No? What?” Keith asked. “Wings?”

            “You made this real scary face, dude,” Lance said. “Are you okay?”

            “You’re alright with.. this?” Keith said, gesturing to himself. He might be in shock.

            “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” Lance was confused again. Was this a thing? Was he supposed to say something else?

            “People usually say something, I dunno?” Keith was blushing on top of his blush but felt better seeing how flustered Lance was as well.

            “Like what?” Lance asked, putting a hand on the back of his neck. “I’m bi, so…”

            “So yeah,” Keith nodded, getting the drift. “Yeah.” This was hell. He was dying and this was his punishment for all those times he hid behind the old high school and smoked with his friends.

            “Right. Class. Gym class.” Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist and drug them out of the gym, just in time for Iverson to blow the late whistle.

* * *

 

**Gremlin: Should we pretend to not know?**

**Hunkalicious: Yeah, I feel like we shouldn** **’t know this yet.**

**BFFAEAE: I didn** **’t know what else to do! He seemed so freaked out! I just said I was bi! Will you kill me?**

**Hunkalicious: Beyond the fact that I would not do well in prison and the fact that you** **’re my best friend, I feel like you** **’re wiggin** **’** **for no reason, buddy.**

**Gremlin:  First of all, rude. Secondly, I agree with the now-excommunicated Hunk.**

**shiro: So what I** **’m hearing is that it could have gone better.**

**Keith Kogane: a;hboirnaeoi** **’ia trhakfbaehboihaebfrgj**

**shiro: Duly noted. Can you come to my classroom so I can get the full story?**

* * *

 

            “Keith, you’ve only got three minutes until the next class,” Shiro warned. “You’re not skipping in here.” Keith gave him a hopeful look. “Or in general. I will call your next teacher after you leave here, so help me.”

            “I just ripped off my tee shirt like an animal,” Keith hissed.

            “And he was fine with it, so you must’ve done something right,” Shiro chuckled. Keith scrubbed his hands down his face and Shiro looked at the clock.

            “Two minutes,” Keith moaned and scooped up his backpack. “You’ll live!” He called out his door as Keith ran down the hallway.

            Keith couldn’t concentrate on class. What did it _mean_ when Lance said he was bi? That he thought that Keith was a girl still? His thoughts tangled themselves up and clogged his brain until lunch when he realized he’d have to sit in Coran’s room and look at everyone and not say anything to Lance about anything. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell everyone else yet. Before he made his way across campus to the building with Coran’s room, he steeled himself. They were his friends. They just told him they were magic. They could handle a little gender tomfoolery.

            That’s what he told himself as he opened the door to Coran’s room. Shiro was already there, sitting next to Coran. Allura was deep in conversation with Pidge about something, and they gesticulated wildly while Hunk looked largely unimpressed. The only open seat was next to Lance, and he spun the chair around and sat down.

            “Hey, dude,” Hunk called. “My mom thought you’d want to try the new mozzarella stick burger they’re thinkin’ about adding to the menu,” He said, grinning.

            “Mozzarella sticks _and_ a burger?” He said, voice much steadier than he thought it’d be. “It’s already approved.”

            “That’s what I said,” Lance said, grinning at him. “I already ate mine. It was like a three bite deal.”

            “Yeah, well you have a big mouth.” Hunk said, glaring at him. Lance knew the jibe was dual-edged and he chuckled sheepishly. “Let me know what you think.” Keith took a long drag of his milkshake and looked shyly at Lance. He was smiling at him fondly, and it made his heart pound against his ribcage.

            “Okay, so, gross,” Pidge declared from across the table. “But I’m glad Lance is being gross with you, Keith.” Keith choked.

            “Um. Thanks,” He spluttered. Shiro grinned at his kid brother’s smooth moves as Lance handed him a napkin on reflex before he could smear milkshake all over the arm of his jacket.

            “I’ll beat him up if he’s mean to you, Keith.” Hunk said solemnly.

            “Hey!” Lance squeaked. “It’s totally supposed to be the other way around.”

            “Well, Keith’s done nothing wrong in his whole life.” Hunk sniffed. Lance looked absolutely betrayed and Shiro rolled his eyes.

            “Sure, if he was born again _yesterday_ ,” He scoffed. Keith shot him an affronted look over his burger. “This nutcase popped a wheelie on the way out of the driveway to go get that nutcase,” He gestured at Lance.

            “ _Hey!!_ _”_ Lance said again. “This is assault.”

            “No, _this_ is assault,” Pidge leaned over the table and punched Lance solidly in the shoulder. Lance gasped.

            “Novio, do you see this? Do you see how I’m treated here?” Allura hid a smile behind her hand and Keith grinned at Lance.

            “I’m sure that was backpay for some dipshit thing you did earlier.” He said, causing a round of laughter.

            “Et tu, Keith.” Lance hissed. “See if I get you frozen yoghurt ever again.”

            “I paid?” Keith said between laughs.

            “Such a gentlemen,” Coran cooed. For a moment, Keith could actually _see_ the tiny cartoon hearts that orbited Coran’s head. “Back in my day,” Coran began. Allura shook her head as Coran went on to tell a very involved story of his first date with a girl in New Zealand. As they listened, Keith allowed Lance to dunk his fries in his milkshake and smiled at him. Lance blushed and looked away, but Keith could see the smile on his face, too.

* * *

 

            “So, what do you guys do on Saturdays, before Starlite?” Keith asked. They clustered in the hallway before Keith took Lance home.

            “Oh, just some witch stuff,” Pidge said offhandedly.

            “Oh? That all?” Keith said dryly. “Can I come?” The three shared a look.

            “I mean, I don’t see why not,” Hunk said, looking puzzled. “It’s nothing too interesting,”

            “Come on, it’s pretty rad. Don’t sell yourself short, big guy,” Lance said, grabbing Hunk and shaking him gently. “So, it’s basically just a ritual to keep our powers in tip-top shape.” Keith nodded slowly.

            “Okay. What do you do?” They migrated down the stairs, toward Allura’s room.

            “I mean, it’s a ritual,” Hunk started, looking nervously at the others. “I don’t know what else to say.”

            “Okay, Keith. Coming from a non-magical background,” Pidge dropped back to talk to Keith.

            “I come from a non-magical background,” Lance interjected.

            “Okay. But your dad,” Pidge waved their hands around. “Ack! Never mind, but this is what happens. We get together, we put up a magic circle, we call quarters, and have some of Hunk’s Juju Juice. It sounds real crazy, looks a little crazy, but overall a good time.”

            “Okay,” Keith drawled.

            “It’s what normal Wiccans do, but ours is a little wilder.” Hunk supplied. “My parents both are magically inclined, but some people in my family are just Wiccans.” Keith nodded slowly, trying to process.

            “Hi, Allura!” Lance chirped. “You coming tomorrow?”

            “Yes, but I’m afraid Coran can’t make it… to the… club… meeting.” She said, clapping eyes on Keith.

            “It’s okay, he knows,” Lance chuckled, reaching for the helmets. “Nice attempt at a save, though.”

            “Wait, I’m sorry,” Allura held up a hand. “You told Keith what exactly?”

            “What we are.” Hunk said assuredly. “It’s okay, he and Shiro are cool.”

            “Shiro knows as well?” Allura blinked. “When did you tell them?”

            “Uh, last week sometime?” Lance said, scratching his neck.

            “Oh. Okay. Well.” Allura looked uncomfortably at Keith.

            “I’d like to come tomorrow, if that’s alright with you,” He said, tangling his fingers together in front of him.

            “No, that’s fine. I’m just not used to other people being aware, I suppose.” She said, eyebrows knit together. “Then I’ll see the lot of you tomorrow,” She said, picking up her briefcase. The kids were herded out of the classroom, and Keith and Lance made their way to Keith’s bike. Shiro’s car was already gone, and Keith shot him a text letting him know where he was headed.

            “Ready to make tracks?” Keith asked.

            “Please don’t actually make a track,” Lance asked quickly. Keith cackled and revved the engine to rile Lance up. He was rewarded with a squeal and Lance gripping him around the middle even tighter.

            “I’m teasing.” Lance humphed at him and settled more comfortably on the bike as Keith pulled out. They rode quietly to the end of Lance’s block. “So, where do you put the helmet when your dad’s home?”

            “In the shed,” Lance said uncomfortably. “He never goes out there, and it’s under a tarp.” Keith nodded.

            “Okay. See you tomorrow, Lance.” Lance waved as he started down the street.

            “Text before you leave! See you tomorrow, novio!”

 


	7. You know, one of those ones with the high collar. It'd look so boss flapping in his magick wind.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets to witness his first witchy ritual, but he didn't anticipate being thirsty for something other than Hunk's tea...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ritual outline taken from moi, resident witch, and my own ritual outline.

**lance: You on your way?**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: yep! should i bring anything?**

**lance: Nah. Shiro gonna meet us at the Starlite after?**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: yeah. i** **’m gonna text him when we leave.**

**lance: great! i** **’ll be on the porch.**

* * *

 

            Keith pulled up to Lance’s house, and Lance bounded down the stairs with a wide grin. He slung himself over the back of the bike.

            “Usually, Hunk picks all of us up in his parents’ Bug.” Lance chirped.

            “That’s gotta be a comfy ride,” Keith said wryly.

            “Uh, nope. I’m surprised Hunk fits, let alone all three of us,” Lance replied. They pulled out of the driveway, Lance giving Keith directions to a nearby nature sanctuary. They parked next to a yellow Bug and a pink convertible.

            “So we hoof it from here,” Lance said. “It’s like a fifteen-minute walk. No big deal,” Keith looked from his bike to the trail.

            “You know, the Dualsport can go on trails,” He said with a grin.

            “Absolutely not,” Lance said, making an X with his forearms. “You’ll scare away the magic.”

            “I don’t think that’s how that works,” Keith said, shoving Lance. They put their helmets in Hunk’s backseat.

            “You might scare away the magic anyway, what, with your mullet and all,” Lance teased. Keith hissed.

            “It’s not a mullet,” He said, self-consciously running his fingers through it.

            “Over-grown eighties nostalgia, whatever,” Lance flapped his hand at Keith before wrapping an arm around his neck. “Still cute.” Keith’s face reddened from his neck up.

            “Yeah, well at least I wasn’t eating this time,” He grumbled. Lance chuckled fondly. On the way to their spot, Lance chattered about what they were going to be doing in heavy detail. Keith was sure that he could complete the ritual as well, even if he didn’t have a lick of magic in him.

            “Finally,” Hunk called across the clearing. “We thought we’d have to come find you.”

            “Don’t worry, the man of the hour is here,” Lance quipped.

            “What does that make me? Chopped liver?” Keith jibed.

            “I _was_ talking about you,” Lance looked at him through his eyelashes and Keith felt his face heat up. Pidge made gagging noises.

            “Gross,” They said, and Lance broke the eye contact. “Get your lanky butt over here. We’ve been waiting forever.” They snarked.

            “Keep your shorts on,” Lance said as he loped across the clearing. “I’m coming.” Keith jogged to keep up, and Allura waved at him when he joined the group.

            “Hey, guys.” Keith greeted.

            “This is gonna be so cool,” Hunk gushed. “I know I was really nervous at first about telling you, Keith, and I didn’t want to because I wasn’t sure if you’d freak out or not,”

            “Hey,” Keith said good-naturedly. Hunk shrugged.

            “Still gonna be really cool to show people that aren't _these_ people,” Hunk gestured at the gathering. “Or my parents.”

            “You kids ready?” Coran asked. Keith watched each person nod solemnly, every hint of a joke melting out of their features. “Then let’s begin, shall we?”

            Keith took a step back as Lance walked to the head of the stone table in the centre of the clearing. He held out one finger and took a deep breath. He pointed his finger at the ground, and to Keith’s shock, crackling electricity sprung from where his finger pointed. It clung to the ground, forming a barrier around the group.

            “Showoff,” Pidge hissed.

            “It’s cos his boyfriend’s here,” Hunk cooed. Keith went to make a retort, but Lance started speaking.

            “I call upon thee, O Lord and Lady, bless this circle so that we may be free and protected within this space,” Lance spoke with authority as he finished his third revolution of the circle and paused for a moment, allowing himself to feel the energy all around them. “As above so below, this circle is sealed. So mote it be,”

            “So mote it be,” The group echoed and Keith found himself mumbling along as well. Lance walked to the North of the circle once more.

            “Guardians of the North, element of Earth,” He called, taking an empty bowl from the stone table. He held a fist over the bowl and fine, white granules poured out of his clenched fingers. “I call upon thee to be present during this ritual. Join me now and bless this circle. So mote it be.”

            “So mote it be.” Keith’s voice was stronger now. Lance moved clockwise, taking a burning stick of incense from the stone table. The wind picked up as he opened his arms. His coat flapped at his sides and his hair writhed in tendrils around his face.

            “Guardians of the East, element of Air! I call upon thee to be present during this ritual. Join me now and bless this circle. So mote it be,” The incense smoke curled around Lance and the wind trickled to a small breeze as they echoed him. He put the incense back and moved to the south of the circle.

            “Guardians of the South, element of Fire,” A ball of flame appeared in each of his hands, and small blue motes floated around Lance’s face and head. “I call upon thee to be present during this ritual. Join me now and bless this circle. So mote it be,” The motes struck forth to alight on a smattering of red candles, wax melted to the stone table, and each of them sputtered to life. Lance moved to the west of the circle.

            “Guardians of the West, element of Water,” Lance held a large bowl, into which water poured from a source that Keith couldn’t discern. “I call upon thee to be present during this ritual. Join me now and bless this circle. So mote it be,”

            “So mote it be,” Keith said, watching as Lance put down the bowl. Was it wrong that Keith thought this was all incredibly hot? Lance’s eyes danced with amusement, and Keith blushed as he realized he was being damn near translucent.

            “Okay, Hunk. It’s your show.” Hunk cracked his knuckles as he got to work. He chopped up some roots and put them to boil on a fire Lance conjured in the centre of the stone table. He then took a bundle of herbs and walked to the north of the circle.

            “Guardians of the North, element of Earth, I ask you to bless these ingredients for our continued success with magick.” He asked, in a far less authoritative voice than Lance. “So mote it be,” He said, sprinkling the herbs with salt as the rest of the group echoed. He moved clockwise, repeating the request at each quarter. Keith would have sworn that the herbs were growing thicker and lusher, but that could have been his imagination. Or the fact that this was fucking magick. Hunk handed the plants over to Allura, and to Keith’s shock, they dried up in her hands.

            “Uh?” He said, pulling a face.

            “Oh. My powers have to do with plants,” Allura said sheepishly.

            “Right,” Keith replied.

            “She’s a bit of a green thumb,” Lance said, grinning lopsidedly. Keith rolled his eyes and grinned back at him as Hunk ground the plants up using a mortar and pestle. Once they were a fine mix, he dumped the mix into the roiling pot in the centre and stirred it three times.

            “I call upon thee, O Lord and Lady, to imbue this potion with your power. Bless us with your strength and wisdom. So mote it be.”

            “So mote it be,” The group echoed. Lance knelt under the stone table and pulled out a wooden box. The latch swung open and Lance passed out a variety of mismatched teacups. He hesitated, holding one out to Keith.

            “Uh, Hunk?” He asked. “It won’t murder Keith, right?”

            “No, no. At it’s worst for somebody without magick it’s just tea.” Hunk assured. Their fingers brushed as Keith took the teacup. Hunk began serving the mixture, straining it with a wire mesh cover over each cup. He held his cup out and the rest of the group moved to clink glasses with him. Keith’s heart warmed at how they grinned at each other.

            “Past the teeth and through the gums, look out stomach, here it comes!” Coran chirped. Keith let out a laugh.

            “Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Lance said, grinning. They stood around and sipped their tea in silence. It tasted earthy, like mushrooms almost, with a hint of mint and something Keith couldn’t quite place. One by one, they set their teacups down and Keith watched as Lance moved to the West of the circle.

            “We bless and thank you, Guardians of the West. Merry meet and merry part until we merry meet again.” He continued to each quarter counterclockwise and dismissed the guardians within before taking a deep breath at the North of the circle. He walked counterclockwise with this finger outstretched, electricity crackling up his arm. He paused before taking in the last of the electricity. “This circle is open, but never broken. So mote it be.”

            “So mote it be.” Keith watched the electricity clamber up Lance’s arm and through his chest. “Wow,” He breathed.

            “Neat, huh?” Pidge smirked.

            “That doesn’t even begin to describe it.” Keith murmured. After the tea, he felt like his whole body was buzzing. “What was in that tea, Hunk?”

            “Oh, just some herbs and stuff Allura grew. Why?” Hunk raised an eyebrow at him.

            “I dunno, I feel like I’m full of bees,” Keith joked.

            “Full of _bees?_ ” Lance said incredulously. “That doesn’t sound good.” He slung an arm around Keith.

            “I dunno. Was it caffeinated?” Hunk shrugged.

            “Probably. I never checked.” Keith hummed and nodded. That was probably it. Keith wasn’t used to a lot of caffeine. They packed away their ephemera in wooden boxes and stowed them under the stone table.

            “To the Starlite?” Pidge said, pointing to the path.

            “To the Starlite!” Hunk crowed, and Lance jostled a playfully grumbling Keith in his rush to race Pidge to the parking lot.

* * *

 

            “It was so cool,” Keith said, grinning toward Shiro. Shiro sipped at his coffee with a wan smile.

            “I’ll have to come next time,” He said, looking at the group. “If you guys don’t mind,”

            “Of course not,” Coran said, smiling. “We like having visitors. What kept you this time?”

            “Doctor’s appointment,” Shiro said, with a note of finality. His creased white tee shirt and wrinkled sweat suit spoke volumes to his opinions on said doctor’s appointment.

            “Ech,” Hunk commiserated. “I hate the doctors. They give me the willies.”

            “That’s because your potions always work better than what they have,” Lance teased.

            “Not so.” Hunk said, bashful. “I’m nowhere near powerful enough for that.”

            “Yet,” Allura assured. “You’ll get there.”

            “So, do you guys wanna go see a movie next week?” Lance said, grinning at the group as they agreed. “Great! So there’s this new sci-fi movie coming out! It’s about these aliens, right,”

* * *

 

**lance: So, what did you think of the ritual?**

Keith grinned up at the stars he had stuck to his ceiling. He didn’t even have words. Watching Lance harness that kind of power was jaw-dropping, in more ways than one. He felt the blush creep up his face as he replied.

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: you were amazing, carino**

**lance: CARI** **ÑO**

**Mysterious Motorcycle Mullet Man: what? i have google, you know**

**lance: YOU** **’** **RE ADORABLE. SHUT UP. OMG.**

* * *

 

Lance mushed his face into his pillow. He couldn’t quite describe how cute he thought it was that Keith was trying to speak in Spanish with him. His feet carried him to Lousia’s room.

            “Louisa!” He hissed. She turned around at her desk as Lance clicked the door shut. “Look at what this mullet-headed bastard did,” Lance turned his phone toward Louisa and she read through the messages, giggling.

            “So he went to your thing today?” Lance nodded, flopping down on Louisa’s bed.

            “Yeah. You should’ve seen the look on his face the whole time. I’m still not sure that I’m living and breathing,” He joked and Louisa shook her head at him.

            “You’re fine. The boy’s just in love,” She sang at him, and Lance blushed as he flapped his hands at her.

            “Shut it, shut it,” He chuckled.

            “You guys are a cute couple.” Louisa decided. Lance grinned at her.

            “Yeah. Guess we are.”

* * *

 

            “He just yelled at me, I think?” Keith grinned at his phone. “He yelled that I was adorable and told me to shut up.” He chuckled.

            “You got him,” Shiro sighed, melting into the couch. Keith paused for a moment.

            “How’d the doctor’s go?” He asked. Shiro rolled his eyes.

            “They’re being annoying, as always. Want me to look into prosthetics.” He said heavily. Keith frowned.

            “You don’t want to?” Shiro shook his head before taking off his hoodie and throwing it over the arm of the chair. Keith’s gaze lingered for a moment on what remained of his brother’s arm before looking away. He didn’t see it often, but each time it made his heart ache. That’s probably why Shiro usually wore long sleeves, one carefully pinned just above where the elbow should be.

            “No. All it’s going to do is get in the way.” Shiro groaned. “It won’t be the same.”

            “I guess not,” Keith said softly. There was a heavy silence for a moment before Keith lightly chuckled. “Wanna watch some X-Files?” Shiro belly laughed, which took some of the weight from Keith’s shoulders.

            “Can we eat literally any snack other than popcorn?”


	8. Dude What If We Got Hunk A Big Pewter Cauldron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh, I'm projecting a little. _shrugs_

            It started with a cough. Shiro was looking at him over his phone at dinner time that Tuesday.

            “I just swallowed funny,” Keith insisted. Shiro squinted at him, but let it slide. That night, Keith laid on his bed and listened to his lungs crackle with every breath.

            Shiro wasn’t gonna be happy about this.

* * *

 

            The next morning, Keith oozed out of bed and into some clothes. He wore a sports bra that day, with a bigger hoodie.

            “Good morning! I was just getting ready to call you again,” Shiro said, ruffling his hair. He was about to quip about not rushing perfection when he was struck with another coughing fit. “Swallowed funny?” Shiro said quietly. Keith sagged against the counter.

            “I might be coming down with something.” He admitted. Shiro nodded.

            “I’ll make you an appointment for Thursday or Friday. You good to drive to school?” Keith nodded vigorously. It was Wednesday. This was the only time he’d be able to see Lance today. “Okay. Just let me know when you get there.”

            “And when I leave,” Keith finished hoarsely. “No problem, Takashi. I’ll see you after school.” He loped out of the door and lazily made his way to his bike. When he pulled up outside of Lance’s, Lance gave him a look of concern.

            “What, no wheelies today?” He chirped. Keith wheezed as he shook his head. “Hey, are you okay?”

            “I just have a cold. Shiro’s gonna take care of it tomorrow.” Keith managed. His whole body hurt, and when Lance gripped onto his waist, he felt every point of contact light up like an electrical storm.

            “Novio, you’re burning up.” Keith groaned weakly, and Lance set his jaw. “We’re cutting gym class today. I’ll text Pidge and Hunk.” At the next stoplight, Lance was at his phone, firing away texts. “Allura says that because you’re sick we can sit in her room.”

            “Lance,” Keith began to argue. Lance held up a hand, before pointing at the light. It was green.

            “No arguments. Gotta take care of my boyfriend, okay?”

* * *

 

            A few minutes later, Keith was curled up on the floor of Allura’s room with an afgan. His head was safely pillowed in Lance’s lap, and Lance’s fingers worked through his hair soothingly.

            “You’re still on fire, Keith.” Lance murmured. Keith shivered in response.

            “Sure doesn’t feel like it.” His teeth clacked. Lance’s face got uncertain for a moment.

            “Do you trust me? Like, in the littlest bit?” Keith paused. “I want to cool down my hand for you and put in on your head. We gotta keep this fever down or you’ll feel even worse.”

            “I trust you,” Keith said quietly into Lance’s shirt. Lance’s heart did a funny flop before he took a deep breath and found his centre. He reached for the power that he knew was lurking just beyond his grasp, and he felt the temperature around him go down. He reached just a little farther, and he felt the tips of his fingers come in contact with an icy breeze. _Just a bit,_ he thought. He didn’t want to turn his new boyfriend into a popsicle. With his cooled hand, he gently stroked Keith’s bangs back from his forehead.

            “Yikes,” Keith hissed. “That hurts.”

            “Then your temperature is way too high,” Lance said worriedly. “Allura?” He called. Allura came out of one of the back rooms.

            “What’s the matter?” She asked. She had been about to chastise him on calling her Ms. Altea, but she’d seen the terrified look on his face.

            “He’s way, way too hot.” Keith weakly chuckled. There was a joke in there somewhere… Lance looked unnerved at the woozy laugh. “Okay, I think he’s dying. Will you get Shiro?”

            “No, don’t get Shiro,” Keith said, trying to sit up. His body was wracked with wet coughs, and Lance put his cooled hand on the back of Keith’s neck. “Shiro has a class.”

            “Wrap back up, novio,” Lance said quietly. “C’mere.” Lance put the afgan back around Keith’s shoulders and Keith tucked himself into the crook of Lance’s neck.

            “You know,” Keith said hoarsely. “I pictured the first time we ever cuddled very differently.” Lance barked a laugh and continued putting his hand on Keith’s neck and face.

            “Shiro’s will be on his way down. I’m going to go sub for his class. Feel better, Keith.” Keith was already drifting off on Lance’s shoulder. Now that he was sitting up, his chest hurt less and it wasn’t crackling anymore.

            “I’ll text you guys updates in the group chat.” Lance promised. Allura made her way up to Shiro’s classroom, and moments later, Shiro jogged into Allura’s room.

            “Hey, Mr. Shirogane,” Lance called.

            “What’s going on?” Keith cracked an eye open at Shiro’s voice.

            “On the ride over here, I felt that he had a really bad fever. It’s part of my powers, I’m really in tune with temperature, pressure, that kinda thing,” Lance babbled. Shiro listened patiently as he felt Keith’s forehead. “So I told him we were absolutely not going to gym and Allura let us sit down here. He’s been coughing, and he was complaining about his lungs crackling? I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound good.”

            “Alright,” Shiro grunted, heaving Keith off the floor.

            “Uh, do you need help?” Lance offered awkwardly. He didn’t think he could pick the stocky boy up using _both_ hands. How was Shiro doing it with just one?

            “You think we can borrow Allura’s blanket?” Lance nodded and tucked it in around Keith. Keith huffed shallowly and wheezed into Shiro’s neck. The noise spurred Shiro into motion, Lance trailing behind. “I don’t think it’s going to be alright if I take you with me,” Shiro warned.

            “It’s cool,” Lance said, slightly distracted as his thumbs flew across the keyboard on his phone. “My mama’s already calling the school. I’m going to be late today.”

            “Well, if your mom’s fine with it,” Shiro huffed. They were halfway up the stairs.

            “Are you sure you don’t need help?” Lance asked. “If you break your leg trying to get Keith to the hospital he’ll murder me.” Shiro chuckled darkly.

            “I’ve got my balance right now, so don’t breathe on me,” They were halfway up the flight of stairs. Keith exhaled with a wet rattling. “Don’t even look at me.” He made it to the landing. “Alright. I’m parked in the lot out back.”

            “Next to Keith’s bike.” Lance held the door open. They made their way out the back door. “I can bring your car around,” Lance offered awkwardly.

            “No,” Shiro said, sharper than he intended.

            “Didn’t think so,” Lance kicked a rock.

            “My keys are in my back left pocket,” Shiro said calmly once they reached the car. “Will you grab them and unlock the doors?” Lance, mortified to be fishing around in his boyfriend’s brother’s pocket, did as he was asked and opened the back door for Shiro to put Keith down.

            “I’m going to sit with him and try and keep his temp down,” Lance said, handing Shiro his keys and climbing into the back seat with Keith. “Hey buddy, can you buckle up for me?”

            “Hm?” Keith asked, burrowing into the afgan. Shiro turned around in the driver’s seat as Lance reached over and buckled Keith in without a word.

            “Are you really that out of it, kiddo?” Shiro murmured, frowning as he started the car.

            “Dad?” Shiro’s eyes widened at the croak from Keith. Lance juiced up both of his hands and pressed them lightly on Keith’s head.

            “You okay, Shiro?” Lance asked quietly. Shiro nodded.

            “Yeah. Yeah, sorry,” Shiro pulled out of his parking space. “His fever’s gotta be really high.”

            “It is,” Lance said grimly. “I’d say 105, 106?” Shiro’s jaw tightened and he pushed the gas pedal a little closer to the floor. Keith curled into Lance’s touch, whining slightly.

            “That hurts,” He said softly.

            “I know, baby, I know,” Lance said, soothingly. He didn't stop cooling Keith's face. “We’re almost there, okay, novio?”

            “Mmkay,” Keith hummed, coughing weakly. It was like he was exhausted, worn out from coughing. Lance frowned at him and pulled his phone out with one hand.

            “Okay, I’m gonna get Hunk on something to lower his temperature, maybe soothe his cough a little bit. He can run it out on lunch hour.” Lance declared, texting with a vengeance. Shiro swung them into a parking space as Hunk agreed with Lance’s plan. Shiro came around the side of the car and popped the door as Lance unbuckled Keith. “You want me to try and get him?”

            “Nope. Can you shut this door?” Shiro grunted, after scooping Keith up again. Keith was boneless as he coughed into Shiro’s collar. Lance shut the door and moved to open the doors to the hospital. “Jeez, he really is burning up,” Shiro muttered to Lance, who put his hands on his forehead again.

            “Poor novio,” Lance murmured. “What hit him so fast?” Shiro set his jaw as they came fully into the hospital.

            “I’m starting to think I know what happened.”

            Hunk ended up getting there before the doctor did. He brought Allura’s thermos from her coffee that morning, washed out and filled with some of his special brew.

            “It’s gonna taste like dog farts,” Hunk warned, frowning. “I ran out of allspice and cloves, so I had to swap some stuff in, but the way Lance was talking Keith needed it stat,”

            “I don’t think he’s gonna mind,” Shiro chuckled, opening the thermos. “Thank you, Hunk.”

            “No problem. Keep me updated, okay, Lance? I can drop by after school and bring something that doesn’t taste like the essence of garbage,” Lance gave Hunk a tight hug before Hunk went back to school to eat lunch. Shiro poured Keith a cup and Lance took it, making Keith sit up.

            “Hey, novio. This will make you feel better, okay?” Keith roused slightly and sipped at the tea. “Yeah, keep going. There’s a ton of this stuff.” Lance encouraged.

            “Tastes like ass,” Keith groaned and turned away from the cup. Lance grinned at Shiro.

            “Well, at least we know he’s not dead.” Lance climbed in behind Keith to keep him upright. “Finish that cup.” He said, using the same tone he’d use on one of his siblings if they were giving his mom a hard time. Keith sipped away at the cup, eyes shut, with the back of his head tucked under Lance’s.

            “Hey, Keith? You with us?” Shiro asked softly. Keith made a small hum and Lance kept trying to keep Keith’s body temperature down. “You wearing your binder?”

            “No,” Keith rasped. “I know what happened.” He peeked at Shiro, who was sitting in the chair with a small frown. He rested his elbow on his knee and watched Keith closely.

            “I think I do, too.” He said quietly. “What happened?” Keith felt his heart rate increase and part of him wanted to die on the spot. Whatever he’d been drinking, ass or not ass, made his head feel clearer, and Lance refilled his cup without asking. He took another drag to avoid having to look into Shiro’s eyes.

            “I wore my binder too long.” He finally mumbled. Lance’s cool hands rubbed up and down his arms, but they didn’t quite hurt anymore. Shiro nodded softly. His facial expression barely changed, but Keith knew that he was disappointed.

            “What does that do?” Lance asked, looking between the brothers. Keith curled in on himself on Lance’s lap, and Shiro leaned back in his chair.

            “It compresses your lungs, makes it hard for you to take a deep breath.” Shiro said. “We had some issues with this before, just never this bad.” Lance got quiet but kept rubbing coolness into Keith’s skin. Keith heaved a dry cough and surged upright to try and get more air. The cough turned into a fit, and he was _drowning, drowning_ _—_ Lance shot a panicked look at Shiro, who was already standing and heading for the door.

            “Can we get somebody in here? My brother can’t breathe,” Shiro’s voice faded down the hallway as Keith’s coughing fit subsided a bit.

            “Please drink more of this, Keith,” Lance begged quietly. “As much as you can get down. It’ll keep you going until we can get a doctor in here,” Keith sipped again from the cup as Lance felt his heart in his ears.

            “Somebody’s on the way,” Shiro panted from the doorway. His eyes were blown wide and his hand shook where it gripped the doorway. “Are you okay, Keith?” Keith sagged against Lance, who hooked a shaking hand around his waist to hold him up.

            “Never better.” He croaked. Shiro dropped back into the chair and Lance shook the last of Hunk’s potion into the cup. “That really is helping.”

            “Great. Hunk is going to make you some more after school.” Lance promised. “Your fever’s coming down a bit.”

            “I feel less foggy,” Keith admitted.

            “Keith Kogane?” A nurse popped his head in the door. “We have a breathing treatment for you.” Keith was hooked up to a face mask that helped to loosen the bands that were tightening around his chest. Lance bared his teeth when the nurse tried to imply that he should get off the bed, and Shiro backed him up with a glare. Once the breathing treatment was through, a doctor joined them in the room.

            “We’re going to get some chest x-rays, some blood work, and get an EKG done. We’ll see in a half an hour how that breathing treatment takes.” She said, frowning at the two boys on the bed.

            “Sorry doc,” Lance chirped, with his sunniest smile. “Not getting down. He coughs worse when he lays down.”

            “You know we can sit the bed up for him,” She replied wryly.

            “Wow. Stunning technology. I like doing things the old-fashioned way.” Lance insisted, holding a hand up. The doctor laughed and shook her head.

            “Come down to the nurse’s station if he has another bad coughing fit.” The doctor replied, shutting the door behind her. Keith’s hands shook from the albuterol, but Lance tangled his fingers in his anyway. Lance’s other hand was occupied with his phone.

            “Will the two of you eat chicken tortilla soup?” He asked after a few moments.

            “Uh, why?” Shiro asked.

            “Mama is gonna feed you either way. Might as well eat something you like,” He said, shrugging.

            “It sounds good,” Keith said, curling into Lance’s warmth. “Can you do the fire thing?”

            “Nope,” Lance said immediately. “I refuse to cook my boyfriend’s brain.”

            “No cheese, right?” Shiro asked, leaning back in his chair.

            “Yep. Mama already knows you two are lactose-free.” Lance put down his phone. “She’ll be here in ten minutes.” Shiro regarded the boy carefully. “She’s bringing more tea to hold you over ‘til Hunk can make some of his special brew.”

            “Is she magick too?” Keith asked. Lance shook his head.

            “No. She doesn’t know. I get it from my dad, and he’s… He wants me to keep it quiet. We think my little brother might have it, but we aren’t sure yet. Louisa has it. She can talk to animals.” Lance spoke into Keith’s hair.

            A knock on the door interrupted Keith’s nap a few minutes later.

            “Hello, hello,” Lance’s mom said cheerily. She held a plastic bag full of plastic containers of soup, wrapped in kitchen towels to keep them warm, and another thermos. She passed them out. “I’m Lance’s mama. I’ve heard all about you boys.”

            “Thank you so much, Mrs. McClain. We really appreciate it.” Shiro said, smiling at her.

            “It’s no problem, it’s no problem. I can’t stay long,” She looked at her phone and Lance frowned.

            “Do you wanna see Pidge’s mom or Hunk’s parents at the store?” Lance said quietly. Mrs. McClain frowned.

            “I haven’t talked to Lisa in a while.” She said, crossing her arms.

            “’Kay.” Lance texted furiously. “Hunk is texting his mom. She’ll call you soon. Love you, mama.”

            “Te quiero. Eat up, boys. You need some meat on you.” She engulfed each of them in a hug before she left. Shiro had seen the dark smudge under Mrs. McClain’s eye when she hugged him, and he watched Lance a little closer then.

            Keith finished his soup before he was taken away for a litany of tests.

            “You said he had issues with this before?” Lance asked, frowning at Shiro. Shiro sighed heavily and nodded.

            “Yeah, unfortunately.” Lance scooched back on the bed, resting his back against the wall.

            “Why doesn’t he just not wear the binder if it strangles his lungs so much?” He asked earnestly, quirking an eyebrow. Shiro tilted his head.

            “Has he explained anything to you, Lance?” Lance crossed his arms and went to answer. “Other than ripping his shirt off before gym class?” Lance snorted.

            “Uh, no. That about sums it up.” Shiro’s face softened and he shook his head.

            “My brother… I love him to pieces, I really do,” Lance laughed.

            “But some days you just wanna beat him? I understand completely, my man.” Lance realized how his commiseration could be taken and he stammered. “Not Keith, I mean my own siblings. I’m the oldest of five,” Shiro laughed after Lance assured him he wasn’t out for Keith’s blood.

            “That’s gotta be fun for your parents.” He said, grinning and draining the last of the soup. Lance paused in eating his soup.

            “Yeah. It’s a fun time all around.” Lance settled on finally, and Shiro frowned at him.

            “Are you alright?” He asked gently, thinking back to when Keith had told him that it seemed that Lance was afraid of his dad.

            “Yeah. How long do you think they’re gonna keep Keith?” Lance said, changing the subject and hopping down from the bed to collect his and Shiro’s bowls.

            “Dunno. I hope they found a sub for me for the rest of the day… Maybe I should step out and call them.” Shiro mused. Lance chuckled.

            “This is what you get for being an adult.” Shiro stood and groaned.

            “The crushing anxiety of your impending mortality?” Lance froze with a cup of his mom’s herbal tea halfway to his mouth.

            “Maybe you need a nap, buddy,” Lance chirped. “Maybe a visit to a local church or synagogue?” Shiro belly laughed.

            “I’m going to go call the school. I don’t want them to hear you in the background.” Lance gave him a salute before looking back to his phone.            

 

* * *

 

**BFFAEAE: Shiro says it** **’s cos he wears his binder too much.**

**Hunkalicious: Why does he wear it if it makes his lungs sound like that?**

**Hunkalicious: It didn** **’t sound good, man.**

**Gremlin: Dysphoria** **’s a bitch, guys.**

**BFFAEAE: Okay so I** **’ve been googling stuff about binders and it says he shouldn** **’t exercise in it. He keeps wearing it to gym.**

**Gremlin: Oh, boy.**

**Hunkalicious: How do we tell him to cut it out without telling him to cut it out?**

**Gremlin: Maybe it** **’s cos he** **’s nervous about us.**

**BFFAEAE: HE CAN BREAK A RIB?!**

**Hunkalicious: WAIT LIKE BREAK BREAK**

**Gremlin: Yeah. If you breathe too hard while you** **’re binding.**

**Hunkalicious: Oh, god. Why would he be nervous about us? We didn** **’t misgender him or anything, right?**

**Gremlin: No, man. We** **’re not even supposed to know, but somebody can** **’t keep his yap shut.**

**BFFAEAE: My yap is nervous.**

**Hunkalicious: My yap** **’s nervous too now, thanks, Lance.**

**BFFAEAE: Okay what can we do to assure him that he doesn** **’t gotta worry about us like that**

**Hunkalicious: I will end every sentence spoken to him in a male friend word. Like** **“How** **’s the burger, bro** **?”**

**Gremlin: Maybe not every sentence.**

**Hunkalicious: Okay, most sentences.**

**BFFAEAE: Okay. Good! What else?**

**Gremlin: Maybe I could talk to him.**

**Hunkalicious: Do you bind?**

**Hunkalicious: Not to pry**

**Gremlin: Hunk your middle name is pry**

**Gremlin: But yeah, sometimes. I** **’** **ll ask him what his methods are casually. Super casually.**

**BFFAEAE: Your middle name is not casual.**

**Gremlin: Fair. I mean, we can** **’** **t have a full-on intervention. We** **’** **re still not supposed to know.**

**Hunkalicious: It** **’** **ll probably come up when we ask him how he** **’** **s feeling after school.**

**BFFAEAE: You underestimate his secretness.**

**BFFAEAE: I didn** **’** **t even know he was adopted.**

**Gremlin: He and Shir** **o’** **s last names are different.**

**BFFAEAE: So?**

**Gremlin: So you** **’** **re an idiot. I'll** **just talk to him and see where it goes naturally.**

**Hunkalicious: /sigh/ I** **’** **ll put extra chamomile in the tea.**

* * *

                                                                                                                                                                       

            After school let out, Hunk and Pidge came back to Shiro and Keith’s house, where Lance already sat on the couch with Keith.

            “How’re you feeling, man?” Hunk asked. Pidge rolled their eyes but flopped down in the chair across from the couch.

            “Not horrible. Your tea really, really helped. Thank you.” Keith said genuinely. Hunk was struck by Keith's puppy dog eyes and felt the sparkles in the air. He clutched his chest as he stuck out another thermos.

            “You’re more than welcome, dude.” Hunk replied warmly.

            “Can’t let the newest member of our shitbird coven die on us,” Pidge said wryly.

            “Wasn’t gonna die,” Keith murmured into his cup of tea that was way more delicious than the last batch.

            “You sure sounded like it.” Lance said, nudging his shoulder. “Just don’t… Don’t scare us like that again, okay?” Keith nodded slowly, eyes flashing toward where Shiro leant in the doorway to the kitchen.

            “I’m assuming Wednesday after-school activities are on hold, for the time being?” Lance nodded briskly.

            “I’m not letting this guy out of my sight this evening.” He declared. Shiro chuckled.

            “That’s fine with me if it’s fine with your parents.” Lance nodded.

            “My parents wanted me to tell them how Keith was doing anyway,” Hunk said, smiling. Pidge just shrugged.

            “Alright. I’m going to start making some dinner for everybody.” Shiro said, dropping back into the kitchen.

            “Want some help?” Hunk offered, standing. Pidge shot a look at Lance and flicked their eyes toward the kitchen. Lance understood immediately.

            “I’ll help too!” He crowed, pressing a small kiss to Keith’s wrist.

* * *

             “So, your mom doesn’t mind that you’re here?” Shiro asked, smiling gently at Lance. He shook his head as he tried his best to chop up an onion without chopping up a Lance as well.           

            “Nah. She likes you guys.” Lance insisted. A few beats of comfortable silence went by as Hunk mixed up and rolled the meatballs. Shiro fought for a few seconds with a can opener on the can of sauce before sliding it to Lance with an aggrieved look. “You gotta invest yourself in an electric can opener, my dude,” Lance grunted, losing the battle immediately and bringing it to Hunk.

            “If it’s kicking both of your asses, it’s not just user malfunction,” Shiro chuckled, gesturing to his right arm. Lance snorted.

            “Keep tellin’ yourself that, dude.” Shiro laughed as Hunk managed to mangle the thing enough to pour the sauce out. There were a few beats of silence while the group continued with their tasks.

            “I really appreciate how you helped out today, Lance,” Shiro said, once the sauce was simmering. “I don’t know where Keith would be without your help right now.”

            “Laying in bed, letting his lungs make popcorn noises.” Hunk sighed. Shiro frowned, and Hunk’s face turned beet red.

            “You’re probably right,” Shiro sighed. “He’s stubborn.”

            “Sure,” Lance said, frowning and nodding. “But I didn’t even do anything. It was all Hunk, Allura, you and my mom.”

            “Lance, Keith wouldn’t have even told me it was that bad unless you asked Allura to call me. And Hunk wouldn’t have known to make the tea if you hadn’t have texted him.” Shiro said gently. “You really pulled through today and I’m proud of you. I’m glad my little brother made some quality friends this time around.”

            “This time?” Hunk asked, washing his hands.

            “Yeah. His last school… It wasn’t good. It’s his story to tell you, but you guys have already done a lot. Thanks. Really.” Shiro said, jutting a hip against the counter. Lance frowned at the promise of a story, remembering the day they sat on the lawn of the school for their first Starlite lunch. He slid Shiro the chopped onions as he wondered what his boyfriend could be hiding.

* * *

 

            Pidge chewed on their bottom lip, frantically scrolling through Facebook on their phone to try and get their thoughts in order. They’d told Lance they’d wing it, try and bring it up organically, but at this moment in time, they’d rather die. Keith was half asleep, cradling a steaming mug of Hunk’s magick tea.

            “Do anything fun at school today?” Keith rasped, cracking an eye.

            “Can we talk?” Pidge blurted at the same time. They smacked themselves in the face as Keith peeled both of his eyes open.

            “Uh, sure,” Keith said, sliding farther up the couch.

            “No, don’t like, move,” Pidge said, holding out their hands. “Lance will kill me if I kill you.”

            “You’re not going to kill me,” Keith chuckled.

            “Tell me that after I talk, okay?” Pidge sighed. “So, Lance has a big mouth, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

            “Okay, if this is going where I think it is, I’m dead,” Keith said, sitting up fully.

            “No! God,” Pidge shivered. “Not what I meant,” Keith frowned, but waited for Pidge to continue. “Okay, Lance told us you’re trans,” Pidge finally said. Keith frowned deeper. “So like, if you’re binding during gym to try and keep it a secret, you shouldn’t anymore.”

            “Lance told you guys?” He said, not sure how to feel. He was going to tell them, sure. He just wasn’t ready. “When?”

            “The day it happened. He was terrified he’d blown his chances with you so he asked us to kill him.” Pidge said dryly. Keith managed a laugh.

            “Sounds like him, alright.” Keith took as deep of a breath as he could manage. “I’m not just binding because of that, but now that I know that you know, I’ll keep it in mind.”

            “Dysphoria gettin’ you?” Pidge asked with a sympathetic look.

            “Yeah.” Keith said quietly. “You could say that.” They nodded.

            “I bind sometimes too. Do you ever try sports bras?” Keith shook his head.

            “They don’t do… enough.” Pidge nodded.

            “Let me send you some links. There’s this brand that I found that really helps,” They talked about the logistics of binding for a few minutes, and Keith felt himself relax into the conversation. He’d never been able to talk about this with somebody who knew where he was coming from. Shiro tried, but it’s not the same. They looked at sites on their phones for a few minutes, Pidge doing some freaky mind control stuff from their chair to show Keith what pages they meant.

            “I’ll see what Shiro thinks,” Keith promised. “Pidge, thank you.”

            “Don’t mention it. We were all really scared.” They admitted. “Hunk was going to cut school.”

            “Hunk was?” Keith said, surprised. They nodded at him.

            “Yeah, man. Lance wasn’t texting back fast enough and Shiro’s sub threatened to take Hunk’s phone. Hunk very politely tore them a new asshole. It was awe-inspiring.” Keith snorted.

            “Hey, dinner’s about ready,” Shiro called from the kitchen. “Do we wanna eat at the table?”

            “Sure,” Keith called. He brought his blanket papoose from the couch and into the kitchen to see if they needed help carrying anything. Lance’s eyes glittered at him in mirth.

            “Comfy, novio?” Keith cracked a smile.

            “I could think of comfier places to be.” He said wryly.

            “You’ve got game, little brother, but not in my kitchen,” Shiro said, voice strained. He shoved a bowl of pasta into Lance’s hands and Lance’s face coloured completely. Shiro slid the bowl of sauce to Keith and Keith wriggled his arms out of the blankets to take it to the table. The rest of the crew joined them, and Shiro asked what everyone wanted to drink. Lance hopped up to help him, in penance for flirting in the kitchen and Shiro laughed at him. It was comfortable, Keith thought. He was at ease with Hunk passing him the garlic bread in a way that he hadn’t felt since before the accident.

             Lance’s thumb running over his knuckles under the table wasn’t a bad bonus, either.


	9. And Pidge Totally Needs Those Glowing Goggles, Like Steampunk Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets a blast from the not-so-distant past, and Keith finds himself uncomfortable with the proximity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy crisis, everybody. we're starting to get a little deeper into the plot, and if that statement doesn't make you look around and go "we weren't already??" then you have no idea what's about to happen to you.

            Lance managed to collect notes from all of Keith’s classes for the rest of the week. Saturday morning found Lance, Keith, Pidge, and Hunk in the living room, working on homework and trying to get Keith caught up.

            “I hate English,” Keith whined.

            “You speak it.” Pidge deadpanned.

            “Kind of,” Keith said, grinning. Lance chuckled at him.

            “Better than I do,” He snarked. “You try going to kindergarten speaking only Spanish and see how far you get.”

            “And now you never shut up. What happened?” Keith said, pushing Lance. Lance put a hand over his heart in mock outrage.

            “Novio, how could you?” He whispered.

            “Guys, finish up!” Pidge hissed. “Shiro’s never gonna let us out of this house if we don’t do our homework.”

            “Shiro’s sitting at the kitchen table and is decidedly not missing an ear,” Shiro said dryly. “Pidge is right though. Allura will be mad if she has to wait to do witch stuff because Keith and Lance wouldn’t stop flirting.” Hunk glared at Lance.

            “So will Hunk.”

            “Keith thinks everybody should stop talking in the third person because it’s a little freaky,” Keith grumbled, turning his study guide over and standing to get a drink.

            “Lance thinks Keith should bring him a glass of soda!” Lance called into the kitchen. Keith glared back into the living room as he pointedly pulled one glass from the cabinet and poured soy milk into it before coming to sit down.

            “Cold, bro.” Hunk said, chuckling. Lance stood to get his own drink, and the group finished up their homework in time for Shiro to drive them all out to the nature reserve.

            “Why does Pidgeon get the front seat?” Lance whined from the centre seat.

            “Because you have been up in both Keith and Hunk’s shit more times than I can count.” Pidge snarked. “And I can count pretty high.”

            “You don’t mind,” Keith said, snaking his arm around Lance’s waist.

            “I don’t, but Hunk might,” Lance said, leaning into the touch.

            “I mind the most,” Shiro said firmly. “Hand check!” Keith’s hands flew up into view of Shiro’s rearview mirror on reflex, and Lance grinned and made a show of snapping the waistband of Keith’s sweatpants before raising his.

            The only warning the rest of the car had was Shiro’s eyes widening by a fraction before they were coming to a screeching halt.

            “LANCE YOU ASSHOLE,” Pidge swore, cackling and shoving Lance’s ass end away from them from where he had sprawled over the console in the violent stop.

            “I can attest that nothing was happening,” Hunk said, glumly peeling his face off of the back of Pidge’s seat.

            “Keep it that way,” Shiro growled down at the offending boy. Lance smiled sheepishly at him and slunk back to his best friend and his boyfriend. Keith looked largely unimpressed at both his brother and Lance.

            “Can we put the defending my fragile virtues on hold long enough to get to this ritual?” He deadpanned to the rearview mirror. Shiro grimaced at him and continued pulling into the lot. Everyone piled out of the car and stretched, but as the group began to drift towards the mouth of the trail, Shiro tugged on Keith’s jacket.

            “Hey,” He said, frowning. “You know I’m just teasing you guys, right?” Keith mirrored his expression.

            “Sure. You’re supposed to.” Keith shrugged. “Lance knows you’re kidding around, I think.”

            “Does he?” Shiro frowned after Lance, who was hanging off of Hunk in the distance and crowing at something Pidge had said. “I’m not going too far with you?”

            “No. It’s funny.” Keith said drily, causing Shiro to snort.

            “I’ll lay off a bit until I can talk to Lance.” He replied, slinging an arm around Keith’s shoulders. “You picked some good friends.”

            “I keep telling everyone,” Keith sighed, shaking his head. “They picked me.”

* * *

 

            Shiro watched, stunned, as Lance put on just as much of a show this time as he had the last time.

            “Great. We’re going to have to deal with Loverboy’s theatrics forever now.” Pidge had grumbled.

            “You act like he wasn’t theatrical before,” Allura had chuckled, causing Lance to shoot a wounded look over his shoulder.

            “If we could stop shit talking the man who is summoning elementals, that would be peachy,” He sniffed. Shiro’s eyes managed to blow wider.

            “Elementals?” He said under his breath.

            “I’m dating a badass,” Keith muttered to him.

            “Guys,” Lance said, bristling. “I have to focus.” The chatter ceased and Lance carried on with the show. As they sipped Hunk’s Juju Juice, Shiro hummed and looked in the pot.

            “This is delicious!” He praised. “What goes into it?”

            “Rosemary, anise seed, bay leaves, and some good old-fashioned tea for good taste.” He boasted. “Sometimes we put cinnamon and cardamom in there, like in the winter.” Shiro nodded and took another sip.

            “Makes me tingle,” Keith said, shivering exaggeratedly. Shiro nodded.

            “Must be the anise. It doesn’t taste licoricey though,” He chirped, and Hunk refilled his cup, squinting at Keith.

            “No, yeah. They work well together. Do you get all tingly too, Shiro?” Shiro nodded, mid-sip.

            “Sure. Must be the atmosphere. Lance sure knows how to set it.” Shiro grinned crookedly at the boy in question, who beamed under the praise. Hunk nodded slowly, looking between the brothers.

            “Yeah. The atmosphere.”

            As Lance closed the circle, a slow round of applause from a single pair of hands echoed across the clearing, startling the group. They hadn’t heard anyone walk up.

            “It never gets old, Lance.” A female voice called. Between heartbeats, a ring of flames sprung up around the stone table.

            “Shit,” Shiro swore.

            “Feisty. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Lancey-Lance.” A male voice drawled from the other side of the flames.

            “Both of you can fuck right off,” Lance growled, crossing his arms. The flames reflected in his eyes, giving him a feral look that Keith would have adored if he wasn’t too busy being confused.

            “We’re not here to hurt you.” The man chuckled. “We just want to talk.”

            “Then talk.” Lance spat, moving toward the edge of the fire ring. “And get fucking lost.”

            “I felt the energy all the way from the parking lot.” The girl purred, close enough to Lance through the fire that she could feel the heat. “You’re getting better. Not as good as you were before, of course.”

            “Drop it.” Lance hissed. “That’s over, Nyma.”

            “Sure. If you say so. The invitation’s always open, Lance. Rollo misses you.” She crooned. “I miss you. Come back with us. This pitiful coven is no place for you.”

            “Shut your mouth when you’re talking about my friends.” Lance growled. “You talked. Now leave.”

            “He’ll come back, Nyma.” Rollo said comfortingly, stepping forward to run a hand down Nyma’s back. “He never stays away for long.” Lance growled and swept a hand at the flames, causing a tongue of pure blue to lick at the pair. They stumbled back, glaring. There were a few moments of tense silence before Rollo spat on the ground. “We’re done here.”

            Shell-shocked, the group watched the pair leave. Lance slid to the ground, shaking, and the flames died around them. Keith stumbled over to where Lance sat.

            “What the hell was that?” He asked, eyes blown wide.

            “Can we get to the diner? I’ll tell you when we get there.” Hunk and Keith helped Lance scrape himself off the ground.

            “We’ll have to look into better warding for this clearing,” Coran murmured to Allura. She nodded tersely.

            “Let’s work on it on Monday.” She said as they walked back to the car. Before everyone piled into Shiro’s Mustang, Allura pulled Lance into a hug. He blushed deeply, not quite far enough away from his freshman year crush on the art teacher to not appreciate the contact.

            “Thank you for choosing us.” She murmured. Lance grinned, his usual cocky mask over his previously vulnerable expression.

            “Yeah, you guys are all pretty blessed,” He said, patting Allura on the back. She stepped away, shaking her head at him. “See you guys at the diner!”

* * *

 

            The ride over was quiet. Keith had his arm around Lance’s shoulders, holding him close, and Hunk held Lance’s hand. He was still shaking slightly but kept pestering Shiro to let him drive the car. Keith figured he was trying to play off whatever happened back there, but Shiro played along anyway.

            “You’ll peel the keys from my cold, dead fingers.” Shiro chuckled as they were pulling into the spot. “All five of them.”

            “If Shiro’s dead, we’ve all been dead for years.” Keith said dryly, making Shiro snort.

            “Hey! You have to have some faith in your boyfriend,” Lance chirped, shaking Keith slightly as they ambled into the diner.

            “I do. I just have more faith in Shiro.” Lance rolled his eyes as they slid into the booth. Hunk’s mom already had their milkshakes ready when they got there, and Keith snuck a look at Hunk when he walked over to the counter to help his mom carry them over. Hunk looked serious, and Tanya gave him a sad look, then looked to where Lance was razzing Pidge about their gaming habits. Keith’s arm wound a little tighter around Lance, and he turned back to look at Keith warmly.

            “Thank you, Keith,” He said, quietly conking their foreheads together.

            “For what?” Keith whispered.

            “For being so patient.” Lance replied, tucking an errant lock of hair behind Keith’s ear. “I think I can tell you guys what happened at the ritual today, if everybody helps.” He said, looking at the group.

            “Okay,” Allura said, smiling. “You start.” Lance took a deep breath.

            “My dad is the one with the magick in the family. He realized that I was capable when I was a kid and used my fire to make smores in my bedroom after he told me I wasn’t allowed to use the stove.” Keith chuckled.

            “What a Lance thing to do,” He murmured into his boyfriend’s ear. Lance blushed and swatted at Keith before taking his and Keith’s milkshakes from Hunk’s mom and thanking her.

            “My dad wanted me to progress. Get better at magick. He was hoping he’d be able to use it in his business, but unfortunately, all I can do is elemental stuff.” Keith frowned.

            “ _All_ you can do? It’s amazing!” He interjected.

            “Shh,” Lance said, covering Keith’s mouth with a chuckle. Keith glared over the hand clamped over his mouth. “You’re the one who wanted to hear the story,” Lance reminded him, and Keith held his hands up in surrender. “So I ended up finding Rollo in middle school. He always offered to take care of the classroom pets, and he actually walked all of my neighbours' dogs forever. I talked to him, and he ended up telling me he could control animals. Really small stuff, just keep dogs and cats calm. The smaller the animal, the more control he had. I told him what I could do. At the time, it was just fire. He thought it was cool anyway.” Keith pulled a leg into his chest and rested his chin on it while he listened to Lance talk. “We ended up dating for a while.” Lance’s eyes dance to where Keith sat, and Keith frowned. “Then we met Nyma. She moved here in the eighth grade. She was… She still is, a siren.” Lance tucked his chin and sucked on the milkshake.

            “Do you know anything about magick?” Coran asked Keith gently. He shook his head.

            “I didn’t even know it existed until you guys.” He replied, and Shiro grinned.

            “I’m still not even sure that it exists and I’m not in a coma somewhere,” He said wryly. A chuckle went around the table, and Coran waited to explain.

            “There are two primary ways witches use magick. Users of the first way draw magickal energy from within themselves, use it like one would exercise their muscles to stay fit. Those witches are called Alteans. The other kind draws energy from their surroundings. They’re more powerful, yes, but they hurt other people in the process of their magick. We call them the Galra.” The word sent a shiver down Keith’s spine. “A witch can choose to be either kind, but they need to make a continuous, conscious effort to not hurt others to be an Altean witch. It’s incredibly hard work, but we believe it’s worth it.” Coran said, grinning at the group. Lance cleared his throat.

            “On top of being a siren, Nyma is a Galra. A powerful one.” He said, voice hoarse. “She started dating us as well after a week of being in our school. She taught me how to draw energy from other people, how to channel it. That’s how I got the other elements so quickly.” Lance said into his milkshake. He wouldn’t make eye contact with Shiro or Keith. “The power was addictive. It felt like I could do anything, be anything…” Lance trailed off. “I never wanted to stop.”

            “What happened?” Keith asked, after a few beats of silence.

            “He came to high school. On sight, I knew what he had been doing.” Allura finally said, sadness plain on her face. “Drawing that kind of energy changes people. Human bodies aren’t meant to be put through that all at once. That’s why we practice so often, push ourselves little by little.”

            “I was sick,” Lance said, shaking his head. “I looked like a crackhead,” Hunk winced at the derisiveness in Lance’s tone, but didn’t interrupt. “I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep. The only thing in my mind was Nyma’s song, telling me how proud my father was of me.” He shook his head. “Allura and Coran saved my life.”

            “We got him separated from Nyma, gave her magick enough time to run its course. When Lance came to, he was horrified at what he had done,” Allura said quietly. “That’s how we knew that we could save him.”

            “That’s when we found out Hunk could do magick, too.” Lance said, smiling sunnily at Hunk. Hunk blushed under the attention. “Nyma made it hell to get away from her. It felt like yanking barbed wire out of my head, and Hunk made his first potion out of a cup of tea from the intent to make me feel better alone. Didn’t even use any words or rituals. All he wanted was his best friend to feel better.”

            “Still do, buddy. Love ya.” Hunk winked, grabbing Lance’s hand from across the table. Lance squeezed once and sat back. “We started working with Allura and Coran shortly after. It was like that for years, until Pidgeon showed up.”

            “I came last year.” Pidge offered. They grinned at Keith, light reflecting off of their glasses. “I hacked into everyone’s phones and found out that Hunk and Lance had been texting about witchy stuff, so I went and demanded that we become friends.”

            “Whoa,” Keith breathed. “Wait, so like, can you just… get into phones?” Keith asked, frowning.

            “Yeah. How do you think you have Wifi at school?” Pidge replied, basking in Keith’s blushing face. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”

            “I think you just like having dirt,” Hunk sighed.

            “If you could do it, you would be.” Pidge snapped back, and Hunk shrugged.

            “You’re right, but that doesn’t make you not an asshole.” He responded.

            “So we’ve been practising ever since.” Lance finished. He finally made eye contact with Keith. He winced at the stormy expression in Keith’s eyes. “I don’t remember hurting anyone, but I… I would understand if you thought I was a monster.” He said softly.

            “Nyma said that you never stay away for long,” Keith said, just as quietly. “What’s that about?” Lance frowned.

            “I went back to them last year,” Lance said frowning. An uncomfortable wave swept over the group. “My dad found out that I had been performing less powerfully than before. Threatened to kick me out of the house if I didn’t start picking up the pace. I panicked. Thought my only option was to go back to being Galra.” Keith tried to keep his expression neutral as Lance continued. “Today was the first time I’d seen them since.”

            “How long had they been back in town the last time you went with them?” Keith asked. Lance could see where this was heading, and when he could peel his suddenly dry tongue from the roof of his mouth, he answered.

            “Three days.” Keith nodded, eyes flicking to Shiro. Shiro catalogued Keith picking at his gloves, chewing on his bottom lip, how his eyes flashed from Lance to himself.

            “Do you mind if Keith and I take a raincheck on dinner?” Shiro asked smoothly. “I’ve still got some labs to grade, and Keith’s still recovering from the pneumonia.” Hunk and Pidge didn’t say that it wasn’t a lab week. “Thank you guys for inviting us. It was a blast.”

            “Yeah. No problem.” Lance said weakly. “I’ll see you Monday?” Lance said, trailing Keith toward the door. Shiro put a few bills down on the table to cover their milkshakes.

            “I’ll pick you up before school on Monday,” Keith promised tightly, walking out to Shiro’s car. Lance watched as the boy dropped into the passenger seat, and Shiro moved past him out the door.

            “Sorry, Lance,” Shiro said, genuinely apologetic. “Give him some time to process.” Lance nodded numbly.

            “Sure. Sure,” He said. “Thanks for the ride, Shiro.”

            “You just like me for my car,” Shiro ribbed, trying to lighten the mood. One side of Lance’s mouth hooked upward, and he waved to Keith and Shiro. His heart felt heavy as he watched the pair of them back out of the space and drive away.


	10. Pidge Also Needs A Cyberpunk Soundtrack (Applications Within)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith learns more about Lance's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya! Between the two of us, I'm hoping that there will be smut the next chapter... We shall see....

            Keith spent Sunday in his room, curled on his desk chair and giving sketchpad and pencils getting a heavy workout. Shiro heard the bass from his speakers playing the same song, over and over, and chose to go pick up the fancy herbal tea Keith had been eyeing at the grocery store instead of bothering his brother to make him talk. Some time after noon, when Shiro had finished stress-planning the rest of the semester and was in the middle of making some lunch for the two of them, Keith slunk downstairs and sat silently on the table. Shiro turned to grab another slice of vegan cheese to munch while the soup heated and the sandwiches grilled and nearly inhaled the whole slice when he saw Keith perched on the table.

            “I’m going to get you a bell,” He wheezed, thumping his chest. “Make you wear tap shoes, something,”

            “Sorry,” Keith said, one side of his mouth hooking into the facsimile of a smile. Shiro took a sip of water, allowing his eyebrows to come together in concern. Usually, Keith would be doubled over at the sight of scaring the shit out of his older brother.

            “We’re having a gourmet lunch,” Shiro said, letting Keith come to him instead of chasing him. “Grilled ‘cheese’ and tomato basil soup.”

            “The basil makes it gourmet,” Keith chirped, fiddling with the salt shaker that he’d picked up. There was a short pause while Shiro stirred the soup, and Keith cleared his throat a few times. “Am I overreacting? About Lance?”

            “Well, what are you reacting like?” Shiro asked, turning to watch Keith. Keith gnawed another layer of skin off his bottom lip while he considered the question. What _was_ he reacting like? He spent the whole day in his room drawing, but what did that mean? That he was an emo little shit? That was normal.

            “I don’t know. I don’t want him to be around them. I don’t want them to look at him, ever.” Keith crossed his arms angrily. “He said he went back after three days of seeing them last time. Today’s day two.”

            “Just because he did it once, doesn’t mean he’ll do it again. He has you, and he’s clearly smitten.” Shiro teased gently. “Not everybody would put their hands on you in your big brother’s car.”

            “He wasn’t actually-“ Keith began, blushing.

            “I know. But he’s ballsy, I’ll give him that. Doesn’t even flinch when I harass him, and I’ve got a face scar. I’m rugged. Seen some shit.” Shiro set down the pot of soup on the table on a pot holder, giving Keith a pointed look. Keith sheepishly slid down and moved to get the plates of sandwiches.

            “Okay, but I’m not a siren or whatever. I can’t even compete.” Shiro frowned.

            “You don’t have to. You’re Keith. They’re whatever they are, and Lance is Lance. It’s not a competition, or a race, or anything other than the fact that Lance chose you and he keeps choosing you.” Keith slid into the seat and looked into his soup like it’d tell him all the answers.

            “But what if they can actually help him with his dad? You know what happened before. I can’t even kiss him on his own porch. If his dad is happier when he’s with them, then maybe I should just let what happens happen.” Keith said quietly, not looking up from his soup. He felt the same pain in his chest that he did whenever he thought about dropping Lance off at the end of the block every day so that they could kiss. He thought about picking Lance up for school, and his mom waving to Lance’s ‘friend’. He thought about how Lance’s little brother likes Lance’s ‘friend’ because he’s good at piggyback rides. He thought about how if he were normal, he would be Lance’s girlfriend.

            “Keith.” Shiro said softly. He looked up to see his brother looking at him, concern plain on his face. “What’s going on in there?” He rapped gently on Keith’s forehead. “I can hear you thinking.”

            “I just… Lance’s family thinks I’m his friend. I drop him off a block away so we can kiss goodbye. He could just… Be with Nyma if he wanted. It’d make everything easier.” Keith shrugged. “I guess I just feel for Rollo, you know?”

            “You heard Lance. He said he was really, really sick when he was with them. Do you honestly think that’s better?” Shiro asked levelly.

            “I don’t know. I don’t know anything to do with this magic bullshit.” Keith spat. “I’m in over my head.”

            “Does that mean you think Lance wants out, or that you think _you_ want out?” Shiro asked. Keith shrugged, choosing that moment to tuck into his sandwich to avoid talking any more. Shiro waited, also having some lunch. After Keith had inhaled his sandwich and Shiro had watched with disgusted fascination, Keith spoke again.

            “I guess… This is all so crazy, you know? I thought that if I got a boyfriend here, we’d be going to the drive-ins, eating burgers, whatever. Not standing in a ring of fire, glaring down his arch-nemesis. This is so much shit. I just want to graduate; you know?” Keith said raspily. “I thought we were getting away from the drama.”

            “I get it.” Shiro said, nodding. “What do you think would be best? You talking to Lance about this, or leaving him without an explanation?” Shiro said, making it quite clear what he thought was the best option. Keith rolled his eyes.

            “I don’t know how to say ‘Hey, I love you and all, but the fact that we’re in a witch turf war with your polyamorous exes is really getting in the way of my drive-in schedule.’” Keith said flatly. Shiro snorted, causing Keith to break into a smile.

            “You could always just say that,” Shiro offered. Keith rolled his eyes again. “You have a way with words, little brother.”

            “The way being the sidewalk to the garbage can,” Keith growled, crossing his arms jokingly. Keith stirred the remainder of his soup. “I think I might just break it off. Before we both get too invested.” He said, serious expression back in place.

            “If you think that’s what’s best, I’m behind you all the way.” Shiro said sadly. “But don’t break it off just to run away, Keith. Talk to him. He might surprise you.”

 

* * *

 

**pidgeon: Hey, Keith. Can we talk?**

**Lance’s Beef Keef: like, on the phone?**

**pidgeon: Absofuckinglutely not.**

**Lance’s Beef Keef: great. good. what’s up?**

**pidgeon: Listen, I know everything really freaked you out yesterday, which totally makes sense, but like, don’t count Lance out yet. I haven’t known him as long as Hunk, and I don’t think Lance knows Lance as well as Hunk knows Lance, but I can vouch for how much better he is with you.**

**Lance’s Beef Keef: wait, why are you texting me this? is lance with you?**

**pidgeon: No! I’m at home. Lance is at Hunk’s, and from what I hear, Hunk hasn’t stopped baking all day. Hunk said Lance hasn’t moved from the bed.**

**Lance’s Beef Keef: listen, pidge, you’re cool and all, but if this is some weird thing to make me feel sorry for lance or something, i don’t know what to tell you**

**pidgeon: No! God, I’m horrible at this. I’m just trying to tell you what Lance won’t.**

**Lance’s Beef Keef: what won’t he tell me?**

**pidgeon: That he doesn’t want you to leave. He’s going to let you go if you want to go because he’s got this stupid complex that he’s some kind of freak but he’s just a kid and damnit we’re all freaks we can do magic so it doesn’t even matter**

**pidgeon: Listen, if I fucked this up it’s my fault. Don’t take this out on Lance.**

**pidgeon: Keith? He didn’t ask me to text you I swear on Rover it was my idea.**

**pidgeon: I swear on Matt’s X-Files DVDs. I swear on /my/ X-Files DVDs.**

**pidgeon: I SWEAR ON FOX MULDER’S FUCKING I WANT TO BELIEVE POSTER KEITH**

* * *

 

            Shiro frowned at the increasing angst of the lyrics seeping out from under the door. Keith started out at Neck Deep this afternoon, but now Rage Against the Machine blared louder than before. He thought Keith had talked it out, sorted the clutter in his brain, but apparently not. He put on his headphones and tried to get some work done until Keith came to him.

            Keith’s floor was scattered with the contents of his desk. He’d swiped it, and his bookshelf, ten minutes after he decided that a playlist change was in order. He was lying on his bed, hollowly looking up at the stars on his ceiling and trying to decide if he had meant to make the Pisces a little lopsided or if he was just trying to make room for his red-stars Scorpio. He looked scornfully at where he’d taken down Andromeda to put up a proud Leo, made entirely out of blue glowing stars. His heart lurched, and it pulled him to his feet and to his desk chair. He clambered up, and began digging his nails under the stars and whinging them across the room. He felt snarls bubble up in his throat. Who did Lance think he was, making him feel like this? Lance didn’t have the right to rip his beating heart from his chest. Lance didn’t have the power. Fuck him, he thought. Fuck him, as he sunk down into the chair. Some of the paint peeled off the ceiling from his frantic work. He didn’t know when he started crying, but after the third loop of the same song, Shiro poked his head in the door.

            “Hey, hey, hey,” He said, crossing the room and kneeling down in front of the desk chair Keith had curled up in. “I was just coming to ask you what you wanted for dinner,” Shiro said gently. “Do you want to talk about it?”

            “Pidge texted me about Lance,” Keith said hoarsely, holding out his phone. Shiro took it and read through the texts. “I don’t know… I just don’t know,” Keith tried to explain.

            “I think you just need to talk to Lance,” Shiro said softly. “I don’t want to see you like this, little brother,” He handed the tissue box to Keith and Keith blew his nose.

            “I feel like I should just break it off.” Keith said, with a sense of finality. “I’m not what he needs. I’m not even in the same universe as him.”

            “Keith, if you’re thinking about breaking it off because of what he wants and not because of what you want, you’re going about his all wrong.” Shiro said, sitting back on Keith’s bed. Keith sniffed and dabbed at his eyes again.

            “He needs somebody that can keep pace with him with all this magick stuff. I should have been able to fight Rollo and Nyma for him. Show them that he’s not interested.” Keith said, crossing his arms.

            “Talk to Lance. What if you’re everything that he thinks he needs, and you never even knew?” Keith frowned.

            “I’ll call him now.” He said quietly. “If he asks, am I allowed to drive to go see him?” Shiro nodded.

            “If you’re careful.” Keith picked up his phone, and Shiro left the room. Keith pressed Lance’s text conversation and chewed on his lip.

 

**Novio: hey, can we talk?**

**lance: Yeah. On the phone, or?**

**novio: yeah. on the phone.**

            Lance’s phone vibrated a few times before he pressed it to his ear. Hunk gave him a supportive squeeze before he retreated to the kitchen.

            “Hello?” Lance croaked. He sounded like he’d been crying all day, and Keith had a suspicious feeling that he had.

            “Hey,” Keith responded, voice sounding much the same. Lance pulled the blanket a fraction of an inch closer to him. “I just wanted to talk about what happened. I guess I freaked out, and you deserve an explanation.”

            “No, novio. You don’t owe me anything,” Lance said quietly. “I get it. It was a lot to handle.”

            “Don’t,” Keith whispered sadly. “You are worthy of an explanation.” He said, just as soft, but firmly. “I don’t think I can keep up with you. You deserve someone who can defend you. Someone who could have fought Rollo and Nyma, made them regret coming back. Someone who can be your other half.”

            “Keith,” Lance said thickly. “You… Are you breaking up with me?” Keith took a shuddering breath.

            “What do you want from me, Lance? We aren’t a normal high school couple.” Lance felt the first few tears fall down his face in hot trails, following where tears from crying jags previous had scalded.

            “You mean I’m not a normal boyfriend.” Lance said, voice betraying a hint of the cutting pain he felt as he spoke. “I know what I am, Keith. I have to deal with it every day. I’m a freak. I don’t fit in with anyone but you guys…” Lance tried to take a deep breath through his nose, but he could only hiccup a few times.

            “You’re not a freak, Lance.” Keith said, after a long pause on the other end of the line. “I don’t think any of that about you.”

            “How could you not?” Lance’s voice came hoarsely over the phone.

            “Because, I’ve seen you. You do some of the most amazing shit I’ve ever seen.” Keith said with open honesty. “You’re amazing, Lance. I can’t keep up.” Lance tried to tell him that he was lying. He tried to warn him that this would get tiring. That Keith needed to get out before he got hurt. What came out of him was a high pitched keen. “Lance? Lance? I’m coming over. Are you at Hunk’s?” Lance sobbed thickly. It felt like something was pressing down on his chest, something heavy. His breath came in shallow pants and he became dizzy. He heard Keith’s voice say other things over the phone, but he couldn’t understand them. What was happening to him? The room spun.

            Keith jammed his feet into his boots.

            “Shiro, I’m going!” Shiro ducked his head out of his room in concern.

            “What’s going on?” He asked, following as Keith barreled down the stairs.

            “I think he’s having a panic attack. He’s at Hunk’s.” Shiro jogged behind Keith the few steps to the back door.

            “They live over by the diner, right?” Keith yelled in the affirmative as he jammed his helmet on. “Let me know soon after you get there, okay? Please don’t drive crazy.” He yelled out the back door. Keith gave him a thumbs up and kick-started his bike.

* * *

 

            Keith sent Shiro a thumbs up emoji and knocked on Hunk’s door. The guy in question peeped out of the lace curtains over the window, and Keith saw his eyes narrow. Keith swallowed past the lump in his throat. Hunk opened the door, and the two boys stared at each other for a long moment before Keith made to talk. Hunk held up a hand.

            “It took a lot of guts for you to show up, which as Lance’s best friend, I appreciate. However,” He said, crossing his arms, still firmly planted in the doorway. “As Lance’s best friend, you and I are going to go on a drive. Text Shiro.” Keith’s heart somehow found it in him to hammer even harder against his rib cage. “We’ll stick close to the house.” At least Shiro would know where to start looking for his body. Keith slung his helmet into the back seat of the yellow convertible Beetle and sent Shiro a few lines of exclamation marks, followed by a succinct explanation of what was going on. The car rattled to life after some gentle coaxing from Hunk. Keith’s back prickled with sweat.

            “Keith, I want to start this whole thing off with letting you know that I really, really want you to be our friend. You fit in our group so well I have a hard time believing that you only just got here. So go into this knowing that if I had it my way, the two of you would make up, dating or not dating, and we would all ride off into the sunset as the best squad ever.” He made a turn, keeping his eyes on the road. “The three of us used to talk about what dating somebody without magick would be like, and we always talked about how cool the other person would think it was, how much more useful we could be in a relationship, how much hotter being magickal instantly made us,”

            “That one was Lance,” Keith murmured with a grin. Hunk chuckled.

            “That one was Lance.” Hunk stopped at a stop sign and turned again, looking like he’d driven this path in his sleep. “Thing is, none of us stopped to really consider that what if we scared somebody. What if the other person thought we were… well, freaks.” Hunk said, looking like the word had scalded him.

            “I don’t—“ Keith began. Hunk shook his head.

            “I know, buddy. Hang on.” They drove through a small wooded area that Keith suspected may be connected to the woods they had spent the past few Saturdays in. “What if the other person isn’t ready for the kind of commitment that carrying around the baggage that having crazy magick exes requires. Being with Lance will be a lot for you, especially now that Rollo and Nyma are in town. They’re pests at their absolute greatest, and actually really dangerous at their worst.” Hunk said quietly. The car was slowly winding through the trees. Sunlight streamed through at an angle, casting everything in an ethereal glow. “Lance might shoot me for this later, but I really think you need to know where he’s coming from before you make a decision.”

            “I don’t think I unlocked Lance’s tragic backstory yet, Hunk,” Keith said, blinking owlishly. Hunk snorted a genuine laugh before parking the car in the shade, off the dirt road, and unbuckling his seatbelt.

            “You have really been hanging out with him too much.” They got out of the car, and while Keith trusted Hunk, this was really starting to look like the end of the line for him. He internally grumbled that he was wearing a sports bra and not a binder as he followed Hunk down a stony path. At least he’d die looking a little bit more like himself if he’d stopped to change. “You know Lance’s dad is a little…”

            “Psycho?” Keith offered.

            “I was going to say overbearing, but I like yours more.” Hunk quipped. “He puts so much pressure on Lance to get better at magick, and you know that, but I don’t know if you know why. See, Lance’s dad has the power of suggestion. He’s an investment banker. You can do the math.”

            “Is that… allowed?” Keith asked, astonished.

            “Who’s going to tell him not to? What do you think the police would do if you called them and told them some guy is using telepathy to talk people into making investments that suit his own company?” Keith bobbed his head. “Lance says that he’s the oldest usually, but he really isn’t.” Keith squinted at the new piece of information as they stepped into a small clearing. “Lance had an older sister, Beatrice. Everybody called her Betty. She had magic as well, but something a little more passive. She could see auras, see how people truly were on the inside. Her dad thought that if she got stronger, she’d be able to do some weeding out of investors at the firm. People who had a stronger sense of what was right for them, people who weren’t as prone to suggestion. It was hard on her. She was a little bit empathetic, just from being able to see something like that about another person.” Keith’s eyes slid nervously to the stone pillar in the middle of the clearing.

            “You’re talking in past tense,” Keith said shortly. “Is she…?”

            “We don’t really know. When we were kids and she was a little bit older than us, she just… up and vanished. Lance came out here and made this for her, saying that if she ever came home, they’d find her here.” Keith took a few cautious steps toward the monument. Upon finer inspection, it looked as though it grew out of the ground. The stone was smooth like Lance had polished it or something, showcasing the marbling of whatever kind of rock it was like it was a precious stone. Etched into the stone the whole way around its cylindrical shaft were the waves of the ocean. It slimmed down at the top, which seemed to naturally have a smoky quartz crystal growing out of it in jagged points.

            “It’s beautiful. He _made_ this?” Keith said incredulously.

            “Yeah. It was his first time he could tap into the earth part of his magic.” Hunk said quietly. “He never told his parents, but I’m pretty sure this whole clearing is so thick with his aura Betty could see it from outer space.”

            “Then why doesn’t she come back? Call him or something?” Keith frowned, pressing the tips of his fingers to the stone. It was warm and felt so familiar he jerked his hand back.

            “I don’t know.” Hunk said honestly. There was a lull in the conversation in which Hunk pulled a sprig of some kind of plant out of his pocket, and set it amongst a smattering of other dried herbs and candle stubs at the base. “I didn’t bring you out here to make you feel sorry for Lance or to make him seem like some kind of poor victim. I need you to understand the kind of pressure Lance deals with on a daily basis.”

            “And to top it off, his dad’s a raging homophobe.” Keith muttered.

            “Exactly. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure I’d have a stroke or something.” Hunk shuddered.

            “I’d be making diamonds in my ass with all the heat and compression.” Keith drawled. Hunk laughed and shook his head.

            “That’s one way of putting it.” Hunk sat down in the grass, and Keith followed suit. “So what part of all of this is getting to you?” He asked plainly. Keith didn’t see any judgement in his eyes, so he took a deep breath and squinted, trying to find the right words.

            “I guess I feel like he’s way out of my league. I don’t know how to help him.” Keith shrugged. “I have enough bullshit that he’d have to deal with. I don’t want to keep shovelling dirt on top of him when he’s just trying to climb out.” There was a long pause where Hunk allowed that to sink in.

            “So you don’t think anything bad about the magick thing?” Keith shook his head.

            “No. You guys are right. It ups the cool factor by at least three times.” He said wryly. “But I think he might need somebody who can also do magick. Who can stand beside him, not behind him.” Hunk shook his head.

            “Okay, so I get that you weren’t around the past couple of years to fully understand how much different Lance is, but what he said in the Starlite about being with Rollo and Nyma was true. He really, honestly looked… Sick. He wasn’t the same guy.” Hunk paused, looking conflicted. A moment passed before his face hardened. “If you breathe a word of this to anybody else, I will feed you a potion that will have you shitting sideways for a week.”

            “Uh?” Keith said, alarmed. Hunk’s eyes softened a little bit.

            “Except Shiro. I’m not gonna do that to you, bro.” Keith nodded tautly. “But I can make _him_ shit sideways for a week too, so it goes no further.” Keith crossed his heart with a finger, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “When Lance was with them, Nyma would make him and Rollo do some pretty fucked up stuff. She had them completely under, man. I don’t know who Rollo is as a person without Nyma, but I know that she had them get her things. At his most powerful, Lance was basically an alchemist. It was crazy. I still don’t know how he did it, but he made her this necklace out of gold and silver, and it had all kinds of stones in it. It had to be worth some major change. She didn’t even thank him for it.” Hunk shook his head. “And even with all that, she still wanted more. She wanted him to be completely devoted. Give him something that proved that she was the most important thing to him.”

            “What could possibly be worth more than the Heart of the Ocean?” Keith asked, and Hunk shook his head.

            “The friendship he had with me. Nyma wanted him to nuke it so there’d be no liabilities.” Keith’s mouth dropped open. “Yeah, I know. It was a really hard time, and the only reason why I brought it up was because he told her on no uncertain terms to eat a dick. Well, not _his,_ but like, a different dick.” Hunk’s face coloured. “Whatever! What I’m saying was that between Allura and Coran, and that last request, he realized that Nyma and Rollo were bad news for him.”

            “Well then, why did he go back?” Keith asked quietly. Hunk continued shredding the leaf he was holding in silence.

            “His dad’s not a nice guy, Keith. I think that’s Lance’s place to tell you, but just know that he isn’t a nice guy and can be pretty persuasive.” Hunk shook his head. “What do you think you’re going to do?”

            “Is Lance okay?” Keith asked. Hunk nodded.

            “He’s with my mom right now. We got him all calmed down. I’m really, honestly glad that you came. Shows who you are as a person.” Hunk stood and offered his hand to Keith.

            “Thanks,” Keith said quietly. On the walk back to the car, Keith cleared his throat. “Do you think I could talk to him about all of this now, or would I make it worse?”

            “I think it might help.” Hunk said, smiling sunnily at him. “There’s more than enough cookies to go around.”

* * *

 

**Lance’s Beef Keef: hey. i’m sorry i ghosted on you. i’m not mad at you. just freaked out in general.**

**pidge: OH THANK GOD. I was fifteen minutes away from hacking into your phone and making it tell me where you were. I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries.**

**Lance’s Beef Keef: no, no. you were just trying to be a good friend. thank you.**

**pidge: Anytime, loser. <3**

* * *

 

            Hunk had handed Keith a tray with a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk (one soy) and pointed him in the direction of his bedroom.

            “Go get him, bro. You got this.” Hunk encouraged. The glasses of milk betrayed how badly Keith was shaking.

            “You think so?” Keith asked.

            “I know so.” He swatted Keith on the behind with a towel. “The cookies are cooling,” Keith ascended the stairs, nodding at Hunk’s mom on the couch. She smiled warmly at him, but all he could focus on was not spilling food all over their nice carpet.

            “Why didn’t Hunk carry this? I’m going to dump this everywhere,” Keith growled, just outside Hunk’s door. “Can’t even- ugh!” He lifted a foot to try and press down on the doorknob to get it open just as it creaked open from the inside.

            “Whoa!” Lance exclaimed, reaching a hand out to balance the tray before it took a dive. “Keith! It’s you!”

            “I brought cookies,” Keith said sheepishly. They stared at each other for a long moment before Keith sighed. “Do you want to talk?” Lance nodded and stepped back from the door, allowing Keith to step inside. “It’s cool that we do this in here?”

            “Yeah. Check it out.” Lance pulled the trundle bed back out from under Hunk’s own bed. “His parents got this for us when we were kids after one too many times of me elbowing Hunk directly in the jaw.” Keith snorted as Lance clicked the bed in position and pulled a stand to one side of the bed. “Here, we can set that down,” He murmured. Their hands touched when Lance took the tray, and Keith held Lance’s gaze.

            “I just want to start out by apologizing. I didn’t mean to give you a panic attack.” Keith said, sitting gently on the bed. Lance sat across from him, their knees touching.

            “If I didn’t have one while on the phone with you, I would have had one in the shower or on the ride home,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it.” Keith frowned and took a cookie and the glass that Hunk told him was his. They each ate a cookie in tense silence while Keith tried to make sense of all the new information in his mind.

            “I don’t think you’re a freak.” He blurted through a mouthful of cookie. Lance paused, mid-sip of milk. “I think all of this magick stuff is amazing. I’m the one on the outside, not you. When Rollo and Nyma showed up, I thought that I couldn’t keep up with you.”

            “Keep up how?” Lance asked, after forcing down a swallow of milk that was somehow the driest thing he’d ever eaten.

            “If they wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t be able to help you,” Keith said simply. Lance shook his head.

            “Keith, you’re the only sane thing in my life right now. You and Shiro.” He said quietly. “Everybody else… Everybody is great and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. But sometimes, it’s good to just sit around and argue about which Jurassic Park movie was the best.”

            “It’s clearly the first,” Keith mumbled, grinning tightly.

            “It’s okay to be wrong,” Lance said, holding his hands up. “I embrace it. Builds character.” Keith chuckled and shook his head.

            “You won’t go back to them, will you?” Keith asked after a few beats of silence. Lance set down his milk and pulled himself into Keith’s lap.

            “Not with you here.”


	11. I Just Keep Picturing Allura With One Of Those Crystal Crowns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith does something sweet to show Lance how much he cares, and Lance gets a terrible idea.

            Keith stopped his bike in Lance’s driveway the next morning with purpose. He had a plan, a pocket full of walking money and the all-important blessing from Shiro to execute said plan. When Lance hopped out of his front door, Keith took off his helmet.

            “Your dad’s not home, right?” Keith asked as Lance approached.

            “Right,” Lance replied, frowning. He didn’t put his helmet on immediately.

            “Okay. Ask your mom if you can be late for school.” Lance frowned.

            “What?” Keith grinned at him. “For what?”

            “You’ll see… Better yet, ask if you can skip.” Lance handed Keith his helmet, and with a curious twinkle in his eye, he turned to go back into the house. Keith texted Shiro a few excited emojis and received a few thumbs up emojis in response. Lance stumbled back out of the house with his mother in hot pursuit.

            “Why are you asking if my son can skip a day of school?” Keith put the brakes on his internal happy dance.

            “I- uh, it’s a surprise for Lance?” Keith said, voice breaking. Lance’s mom’s eyes narrowed.

            “Lance, go into the house.” She ordered. Lance tried to stammer an excuse, but she all but shoved him back in the door and made her way to Keith’s bike. Keith gulped, feeling death breathe down his neck for the second time in two days. “This is my son we are talking about. Never misses school. Gets good grades. You come on your motorcycle and now he’s asking to skip school and go with you? You have to understand that as a mother, this is worrisome.” Keith nodded slowly. “Now, what do you need him to skip a day of school for?” Keith gulped, trying to get some liquid in his throat so he could speak.

            “We had a fight, Mrs. McClain. It was a bad one, and it was all my fault. I wanted to take him to the mall, get him some lunch, maybe see a movie. Spoil him.” Keith said softly. “Show him he’s worth it.” Mrs. McClain’s eyes softened and her eyebrows came together.

            “You know, the last girl he dated never even came by.” She said, putting her hands on her hips. “I think I like you. Dinner is at six. Don’t be late.” She marched back into the house, and Lance was ejected a few moments later, looking bewildered. Lance skidded down the driveway.

            “I’m sorry, did she just tell me she invited you to _dinner_?” Lance gasped, taking the helmet from Keith. “And I’m allowed to go wherever we’re going with you?”

            “Yep.” Keith said, grinning as he put on his helmet. “Wanna text Hunk and Pidge, or should I?”

* * *

 

**The Supreme: Hey, Keith and I aren’t going to be in gym.**

**Pidgeonator: Stop fucking changing your groupchat name to ‘The Supreme’ you’re not our supreme**

**/Pidgeonator changed The Supreme’s name to The Dorkass/**

**The Dorkass: Okay, rude**

**/The Dorkass changed The Dorkass’s name to The Supreme/**

**Hunkalicious: Wait, why aren’t you coming?**

**Christ on a Bike: first of all, lance stop fucking changing my name. second of all, i’m kidnapping my dorkass boyfriend**

**/Christ on a Bike changed Christ on a Bike’s name to keith/**

**The Supreme: Stick to driving, mullet head.**

**Hunkalicious: Keith, don’t text and drive! Oh my god, don’t make me come get you guys. Does Shiro know you’re skipping? HOLY SHIT DOES MAMA MCCLAIN KNOW YOURE SKIPPING**

**keith: >:| yes to both. i’m invited to dinner at the mcclain household tonight?**

**/Pidgeonator changed keith’s name to Dead Boy on a Bike/**

**Hunkalicious: It won’t be that bad, right?**

**The Supreme: Say a prayer for us, will you?**

**Dead Boy on a Bike: omg keith is a perfectly fine name**

**Dead Boy on a Bike: i would know**

**Dead Boy on a Bike: i fucking picked it**

* * *

 

            Keith stopped for gas with a maudlin grin. He couldn’t help himself but extend Lance’s agony a little bit more. He’d felt Lance practically vibrating the whole fifteen minutes they’d been riding.

            “Oh, good. A gas station. How exciting.” Lance deadpanned, standing up and stretching. Keith nonchalantly shrugged a shoulder at him.

            “Astrid is thirsty.” He began filling the tank as he watched Lance’s head slowly tilt.

            “Astrid.” He stated. “You named your motorcycle.”

            “I mean, I ride her all the time. It’s only appropriate that I know her name.” Keith sniffed, paying for the gas with the card. Lance squawked, then laughed in surprise.

            “You know, I never pegged you as the funny type,” He said, grinning.

            “Don’t tell anyone. It’s a secret.” Keith insisted, capping the gas tank. “Ready to get moving again?” Lance clambered onto the bike behind Keith. Another ten minutes brought them to the mall parking lot, and Keith pulled into a space.

            “The mall?” Lance asked. “Why?”

            “Just a normal date,” Keith said, taking off his helmet. Lance grinned at him and followed Keith’s lead and hung his helmet on the other handlebar.

            “Just a normal date,” Lance sighed, catching Keith’s fingers between his own on the way by. “I love it.”

* * *

 

            Turns out, it was not just a normal date.

            “Watch your six!” Keith growled, diving and snatching Lance around the waist. Lance screeched indignantly, scrambling to his feet.

            “Well, if you could land a single hit, we wouldn’t be surrounded!” He squawked, shouldering his rifle.

            “I don’t know how to shoot!” Keith snarled, shouldering his as well. For every four shots he took, one hit their mark. Lance was picking targets off like flies. “Goddamnit,” Keith swore, grabbing Lance’s collar and dragging him to the side. Lance still hit his mark, even when being scruffed behind cover.

            “Why are there so many of them and so few of us?” Lance whined.

            “That’s what happens when you beat every high score, sharpshooter.” Keith teased, winking at Lance. Lance felt his knees turn to jelly but quickly recovered long enough to watch Keith crawl to a better vantage point and sneak up behind two people. He shot them at point-blank range. There was less of a margin of error when they were a foot apart.

            “Not lookin’ so bad yourself, there, samurai.” Lance chirped. His eyes scanned Keith up and down. The black spandex clung to _all the right places_ , and Lance took a moment to thank whomstever deemed humans worthy to be gifted with such an outfit.

Keith beamed under the attention as he dive-rolled to escape another shot. The timer counted down the seconds and a buzzer declared Lance and Keith the winners. Again.

            “Jeez, if I would have known they turned the old magazine shop into a laser arcade, I would have dragged you here sooner.” Lance huffed, sitting down next to Keith on the floor of the changing room. “If only for seeing you in that outfit.”

            “Please.” Keith huffed. “Next time, we’re on opposite teams.”

            “You’re right. It’s not fair to have one team be this talented _and_ good looking.” Keith laughed despite himself and quickly changed back into his street clothes. “So you really didn’t have this planned?”

            “No! I didn’t even know this was here.” Keith said, stomping his boots on with a ferocity that made Lance wince.

            “You know you could just untie them, right?” Lance asked as he slid his tee shirt back on.

            “This way’s faster?” Keith said, looking at Lance with a puzzled expression. “Note: me, dressed. You, not.” Lance rolled his eyes.

            “So what’s next on your agenda?” He asked sweetly as they deposited their used jumpsuits and laser rifles.

            “I was thinking we find some lunch. I could eat a cow.” Keith said, hooking his arm with Lance’s.

            “Perfect! There’s this cheesesteak place at the food court that’s _killer_ ,” Lance began. Keith listened as Lance described what he dubbed ‘The Perfect Sandwich’, Lance’s unoccupied hand flying through the air animatedly. He’d never get over how cute Lance was when he was excited. The thought made a dopey grin stretch across his face and Lance slowed to a stop.

            “What? Did you see something?” Lance turned behind him.

            “Just you.” Keith murmured. When Lance turned back around, Keith was much closer. Lance’s face burned and he stammered.

            “Oh! I, uh,” Keith placed a hand on Lance’s neck, and Lance leaned in. Their lips met, and the people directly behind them chuckled as they swerved out of their path.

            “Cheesesteaks?” Keith asked when they came up for air.

            “What’s a cheesesteak?” Lance replied, blinking blearily. Keith laughed at him and tugged on his arm. “Never heard of her.”

* * *

 

            “So then, I talk Shiro into watching this movie with me, right?” Keith says, chuckling through his words. “And he kept telling me he wasn’t going to hold my hand after, but guess who woke me up in the middle of the night because he couldn’t go to the bathroom by himself? He made me stand outside the door with a flashlight!” Lance howled with laughter, imagining a teenaged Shiro trying to pluck up the nerve to ask his little brother to brave the dark hallway with him.

            “How old were you guys?” Lance asked after the peals of laughter subsided.

            “It was like, a month after Shiro’s family adopted me, so I was like twelve,” Keith replied, taking another bite of his sandwich. He had prepared this time and knew he had a Lactaid handy in his jacket pocket for after this monstrosity. Lance was right, it was delicious, but with a name like ‘cheesesteak’, Keith did not expect to emerge on the other side unscathed.

            “Oh, wow.” Lance murmured. “I thought that you had been adopted as like, a baby or something.” Keith shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows.

            “No. Why’d you think that?” Lance shrugged, sipping his soda.

            “I dunno. You and Shiro seem like you were kids together, you know?” Keith nodded.

            “Yeah. We get along way better than any other foster siblings I’d ever had.” He shared. Lance frowned.

            “You were in foster homes?” He asked, listening as he took a few bites of his sandwich.

            “Yeah. My biological mom passed when I was probably five or so, and my dad left not long after that.” Keith said, looking down at his tray. Lance stilled.

            “Sorry. Probably not a date topic,” He said apologetically.

            “No, it’s okay,” Keith said, stealing one of Lance’s napkins. “You said you and Hunk have been friends forever. Got any good Hunk stories?”

            As Lance dove into a story about the time that Hunk had rescued him from a treehouse after the rope broke, Keith thought about how easy Lance made it to share things with him. With other people, sometimes even Shiro, it felt like pulling teeth trying to get words out. Here, sitting in a grimy food court and laughing about how Lance asked Hunk to throw him granola bars so he wouldn’t starve to death, it felt so simple. So effortless. They weren’t Lance, the witch kid with the world on his shoulders, and Keith, the trans kid who couldn’t stay in one school without wrecking it. They were Lance and Keith, seniors at Garrison High, and boyfriends. At the end of Lance’s story, Keith reached out and took Lance’s hand.

            “What do you want to do now?” Keith asked. A grin stole across Lance’s face.

            “Want to get out of here?” He asked, already standing.

            “And go where?” Keith replied, following suit.

            “Isn’t Shiro at work right now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look for an instalment in The Devil In My Bloodstream: After Dark tomorrow. For those who aren't here for the smut, the next chapter of The Devil In My Bloodstream will give you a short summary of any plot points you may miss! ;)


	12. Okay But Picture This: Hunk with A Magick Flower Crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith meets Lance's family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Lance is singing is "Work This Body" by Walk the Moon.

            Shiro pulled into the driveway and frowned when he saw Keith’s bike. Keith didn’t say that Operation Normal Date was over, so why was he home? He checked his phone as he kicked his shoes off. No texts, and when he looked up, there were two helmets on the shelf. He stopped, and gently set his briefcase on the bench. Was he going to march up there, make a lot of noise, and give them a second to gather themselves, or was he going to sneak up on them and scare them out of doing this a second time? A laugh startled him out of his considerations. It was definitely Lance.

            “Novio, it doesn’t matter what you wear. I’m literally just going to wear this.” Lance said, giggling.

            “Yeah, but you live there! Your parents already at least like you.” Keith said. Shiro hovered at the base of the stairs.

            “Come on, it can’t be that bad.” Lance said. Keith’s voice was muffled, but Lance sounded like he was in the hallway.

            “Don’t come in!” Keith all but shrieked. “Hold on.”

            “Okay, okay. Sheesh. I’ll just sit here. All alone. In the hallway. Like a stray cat.” Lance said, flopping onto the floor. Shiro snorted, and stomped onto the bottom step with a little more force than necessary. “Uh, hello?”

            “Just me.” Shiro called. “What are you guys doing home?” Lance met him at the top of the steps.

            “My mom invited Keith to dinner tonight, and he’s been putting on clothes for like an hour.” Lance moaned, rolling his eyes. “Thank god you’re here.” He raised his voice. “I was going to die of boredom!”

            “Please,” Keith scoffed. “It hasn’t been an hour.”

            “You’re right, it’s been like two.” Lance chirped. “Just wear jeans and a tee shirt!”

            “I always wear jeans and a tee shirt!” Lance shot a very amused Shiro a look.

            “Exactly! I can’t even guarantee all of my siblings will even be wearing _pants_ , let alone a whole outfit!” Shiro laughed at that, and invited Lance to chill downstairs on the couch.

            “So how was the date?” He asked, not able to contain his nosiness any longer. Lance blushed.

            “You knew about that? Well, duh, of course you did. You knew Keith wasn’t going to be at school.” Shiro nodded. “We just went to the mall, walked around, had cheesesteaks. We found this laser arcade, and Keith and I beat all kinds of top scores! It was awesome! We’ll all have to go some time. You get these rifles, and you have to shoot at other players!” Lance mimed shooting a rifle, and Shiro chuckled.

            “I’ll probably sit out, but somebody has to videotape you guys.” He said, grinning.

            “I bet they could give you something else!” Lance said, frowning. “They had handguns for target practice, so they’d probably let you use that instead. If not, screw them. We’ll play paintball! Oh my god, what if we all got paintball guns and shot at each other in Hunk’s backyard?”

            “Okay, is there something you gotta tell me that you’re fantasizing about shooting all of us?” Shiro said, cocking an eyebrow at Lance. Lance laughed.

            “Come on. You’ve met the Pidgeon. Tell me they don’t deserve at least one blue paintball, directly to the butt cheek.” They both laughed good-naturedly at the idea of Pidge dodging paintballs, and in the lull of conversation, Shiro decided to give Lance the talk. The one that every big brother is legally required to give their siblings’ significant others.

            “So, Lance. I know I pick on you and Keith a lot,” He began, and Lance sat further back in his seat on the couch. “But you know I just want you two to be happy, right?” Lance nodded.

            “Sure. I’m a big bro too, you know? You should have seen me with Louisa’s boyfriend. I roasted his ass over an open flame, but he still came back. That’s how you know he likes her.” Shiro nodded, processing.

            “And you still come back.” Lance smiled at him.

            “Shiro, you could be openly mean to me and I’d still come back for him.” He said quietly. “It’s just a bonus that you don’t literally hate me.” Heavy boots on the stairs made them both turn.

            “Is this alright?” Keith asked, spreading his arms. He wore dark skinny jeans, ripped at the knees, and a dark tee shirt. An unbuttoned, olive green shirt was unrolled to the elbows, and paired with the dark beanie and olive green scarf (tactfully hiding the memoirs of their afternoon), Lance had some major heart eyes.

            “Alright? You look _great,_ ” Lance said, grinning. “Jeez, way to make a guy feel out of his league,” He snorted, making Keith blush.

            “What time’s dinner?” Shiro asked.

            “Six.” Keith said, looking at his phone.

            “You only have three hours left! I’m so glad I sat in the hallway for seven days and seven nights, or else we’d be late!” Lance ribbed. Keith chuckled and elbowed his way onto the couch with him.

            “I’m nervous! Shiro’s harmless, but you talk like your siblings all have fangs.” Keith joked, putting his pointer fingers in front of his mouth like huge canines.

            “Harmless? I’ll have you know that I make it a point to razz Lance at least three times a day,” Shiro scoffed, pretending to be offended.

            “I’ll have you know that I make it a point to ignore Shiro at least three times a day,” Lance said, mocking Shiro’s tone of voice. Keith laughed and shook his head at the two of them. “So now what do we do?” Shiro stood and put the kettle on, waiting for Keith to say what he knew he was going to say.

            “Want to watch some X-Files?”

* * *

 

            They pulled into Lance’s driveway fifteen minutes early. Lance was in charge of holding the bag from the grocery store with the cookies Keith had picked up for dessert.

            “You don’t have to bring cookies,” Lance had said. “But I will never say no to dessert,” He said lowly in Keith’s ear, nipping at his earlobe. Keith had blushed to his hairline and pushed playfully at Lance.

            “We’re in public!” Keith hissed.

            “So?” Lance chuckled.

            The screen door slammed open, and a younger girl stood on the porch with a baby on her hip.

            “Lance! Finally! Mom is making me do the rice, but yours is better!” She yelled, and Lance took Keith’s hand and drug him up the stairs.

            “Ready for the crazies?” He asked playfully.

            “Well, I deal with you,” Keith grumbled, grinning.

            “They’re me, but worse.” Lance held the door open for him, and Keith stepped into the kitchen. Mrs. McClain was standing at the stove, wearing a chicken-printed apron and stirring something that smelled spicy. The girl who’d yelled at Lance was still yelling at Lance, telling him to come make the rice. The baby was sitting on the counter, chewing on some of those alphabet cookies she’d spilt out of the container. Music blared from the neighbouring living room, and a young boy and a young girl were singing along and dancing. True to Lance’s word, only the oldest girl was wearing any pants.

            “Thomas! Carlita! You gotta put some pants on!” Lance yelled into the living room. “I know mama told you I was having a friend over.”

            “Is that your friend?” Carlita shrieked, running past Lance and banging into Keith’s knees. “How could you be friends with my brother? He’s gross!” Keith scooped her up, laughing.

            “Because I’m gross too,” He play-whispered. Carlita shrieked again and wiggled, and Keith put her down. She sprinted into the living room and grabbed Thomas’s hand, hopefully dragging him somewhere to put on pants.

            “Can you cook?” Mrs. McClain asked him wearily. Keith chuckled.

            “I make a mean grilled cheese?” He offered. She squinted.

            “I thought you were lactose intolerant,” She said, suspicious.

            “Oh, I am. It’s fake cheese? Probably made of tofu or something,” He muttered, shrugging one shoulder. She shoved a cutting board at him with an onion and some peppers on it.

            “Chop these, please! Wash your hands.” Keith did as he was asked and Lance watched, grinning as Keith scrubbed in and dove into the fray. The younger two burst out of their bedroom and sprinted down the hallway wearing last year’s Halloween costumes. Carlita wore a Wonder Woman outfit, complete with a length of rope taken from God-knows-where, and Thomas actually managed to run part of the way up the couch wearing his Spiderman outfit.

            “I’ll get you Spiderman!” Carlita bellowed.

            “Spiderman’s a good guy!” Thomas shrieked, giggling.

            “No, he’s not! He’s made of spiders! Spiders are bad.” She reasoned.

            “He’s not made of spiders! He’s made of human.” Thomas bounced on the couch.

            “They’re always like this,” Lance assured Keith. “I could hear you thinking it.” Keith laughed and gave Mrs. McClain the cutting board full of chopped veggies.

            “They’re adorable,” Keith said, watching as Carlita tried to lasso the dog with an untied section of rope.

            “Yeah, tell me how adorable they are when they kick your door down at three in the morning,” Louisa said dryly. Mrs. McClain laughed and offered Louisa a bite of whatever she was stirring to taste.

            “You were the same way with Lance when you were that age.” She admonished. “Only Carlita doesn’t tell Thomas horrifying stories all night. Louisa slept in our bed until she was seven because Lance wouldn’t stop telling her about all the monsters that lived under her bed.”

            “In my defence, somebody left the horror channel unblocked, but for some reason, blocked Nick at Night.” Lance snarked and his mom laughed.

            “I didn’t even know there was a horror channel! I would wake up sometimes to Lance sitting with the volume on one, pressed up against the TV, watching horror movies at all hours of the night.” Keith shot a fond look at Lance, who was winding up for another defence.

            “What was your favourite?” Keith asked, putting Lance off kilter.

            “Huh?” He asked. He was ready to get razzed, but the softness in Keith’s eyes made him pause.

            “I was absolutely in love with Vincent Price as a kid. The other kids in the first foster home thought I was a demon or something, but Vincent Price is the king of horror, hands down.” Keith said, taking the glass of soda offered by Louisa. Lance grinned.

            “Oh, I was more of a classic movie monsters kind of kid.” Keith nodded.

            “Admirable, admirable. So like Swamp Man and stuff?” Lance nodded, taking a bite from the spoon offered by his mom, then passing the spoon to Keith. Keith tried it and was surprised by how good it was.

            “So you live with your brother,” Mrs. McClain began. “Where do your parents live?” Keith swallowed hard, and Lance opened his mouth to maybe change the subject, but Keith cut him off.

            “We lost them my sophomore year,” He said quietly. “Car accident.” Mrs. McClain turned in surprise, shock on her face.

            “Oh, I’m so sorry, honey,” She murmured. “I didn’t know,”

            “No, it’s okay.” He said, giving her a shrug. Lance put his hand on the small of Keith’s back. “Do you need help with anything else?” Louisa slid off the counter and scooped the baby up.

            “Has Lance showed you his comic book collection?” She said, smirking and setting the baby in the playpen at the corner of the dining room.

            “They aren’t comic books!” Lance squawked, shrill with indigence.

            “I don’t think he has,” Keith hummed, raising an eyebrow at Lance. Lance snatched Keith’s hand and stomped through the living room, where Carlita was giving Thomas a piggyback ride across the furniture.

            “You’ll bust your face open,” Lance said, pointing at Carlita.

            “Nuh-uh, Wonder Woman has super strength,” Thomas pouted and Lance rolled his eyes.

            “Well, don’t come cryin’ to me when she super busts your face open,” He snarked, continuing down the hallway. “The room at the end is Louisa’s. Don’t go in there unless you have a death wish. The door after that’s my dad’s study, also do not go in there unless you have a death wish. Then there’s the bathroom, Thomas and Carlita’s room, which see above, death wish, and my room.”

            “Deathwish as well?” Keith chirped and Lance put his hand over his heart in mock offence.

            “I’ll have you know that you can see my floor,” He said, sashaying the last few steps to the door. Keith chuckled and shook his head as he followed Lance into his bedroom. Lance clicked the door shut behind them with an impish grin. “Do you actually wanna see my manga collection, or…?”

            “You read manga?” Keith asked absently, eyes scanning Lance’s room. On a shelf, there were trophies lined up with medals hanging from them, and he turned one over in his hand. First place, freestyle. “Swimming?”

            “Yeah. Haven’t been to a meet in ages, but swimming.” Lance spread his hands. “How’s it feel to date an all-star athlete?” Keith chuckled.

            “Dunno. I could ask you the same thing.” Lance raised his eyebrows. “I was on my old school’s judo team.”

            “How could I have guessed?” Lance said, grinning. “I think we have a team if you wanted to join again.”

            “Yeah, I should check it out,” Keith said, looking over Lance’s bookshelf. “Louisa wasn’t kidding. That’s one hell of a collection.”

            “You’re looking at the complete set of classics, such as Yuu Yuu Hakusho and Inuyasha, as well as newer series such as Tokyo Ghoul and Black Butler,” Lance said, puffing out his chest.

            “Is that Tokyo Mew Mew?” Keith said, reaching out to take a volume off the shelf.

            “Wrow, how did Louisa’s stuff get in here, ah-heh heh,” Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist. “Weird, siblings are, she set me up, I’m innocent,” Keith laughed.

            “It was one of my favourites as a kid, relax.” Lance sighed.

            “Great, good. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get half of my bookshelf under my bed without you noticing.” He said, chuckling and flopping into a beanbag chair.

            “Hey. You’ve got ceiling stars, too.” Keith said, tipping his head back.

            “Yeah, well, they aren’t as technical as yours. I just stuck em up there.” Lance chuckled. “I doubt they even glow anymore, they’ve been up there so long.” Keith shot him a coy look from the light switch.

            “Wanna find out?”

* * *

 

            When a smirking Louisa burst into the darkened room twenty minutes later, she found the two boys tangled sleepily on the beanbag chair, whispering about their favourite constellations.

            “You guys are weird.” She said, turning the light on. Lance hissed and threw an arm over his face. “Dinner is ready.” Keith hopped off of Lance’s lap and pulled Lance to his feet. They came out into the dining room, and Lance and Keith helped move plates and dishes to the table.

            “Drinks?” Louisa asked.

            “Milk!” Lance chirped.

            “Ginger ale would be great,” Keith asked.

            “So polite. I like him better than the last ones.” Louisa sniffed and Lance blushed.

            “Me too.” He said to Keith, pulling his chair out for him. Mrs. McClain smiled at the two boys as she put Angela in the high chair.

            “So, Keith. Lance tells me you are quite the artist! When’d you learn to draw?” Keith raised an eyebrow at Lance, who shrugged bashfully.

            “You left your sketchbook out the other day after school,” He said, making Keith roll his eyes at him.

            “I just doodle, honestly.” Lance shot him a wounded look.

            “A doodle? It had shading! Keith, you could be an artist like, in real life.” Keith chuckled and shrugged.

            “I never thought about it.” Keith watched what Lance did with his plate and followed suit.

            “Modest enough for the two of you, I see,” Mrs. McClain chuckled. Lance squawked and was about to brag about how modest he was before realizing the irony there.

            “I won’t deign that with a response,” He sniffed, making Mrs. McClain and Louisa crack up. Keith watched fondly as the family teased each other, tossing in his own digs at Lance throughout the meal. Louisa declared him her favourite brother when he offered to do the dishes, and Lance whined that he was stuck drying, but put on a playlist anyway.

            “See? I didn’t die,” Keith said smugly.

            “That’s only because you and Louisa ganged up on me. I knew I’d rue the day.” Lance moaned, taking the plate from Keith to put away. An upbeat piano tune bumped from the speakers and Lance began to dance and sing along.

            “It was a strange place and a tender age, I was just a babe in school,” Lance sang, swaying his hips.

            “Lance, what?” Keith chuckled, soap bubbles still on his hands. Lance grabbed Keith’s hips and laughed as he forced him to dance.

            “Yeah, it’s just a matter of time, honey, it’s just a matter of time! And I will work this body, I will burn this flame!” Keith laughed and smeared bubbles on Lance’s face. “Oh in the dead of night, and in the pouring rain!” On the word ‘rain’, Lance turned the sink sprayer on his boyfriend, and the fight began. Bubbles were smeared, water was sprayed, and Lance sang through the whole thing, clapping and shaking his hips.

            “Boys?” Mrs. McClain said from the doorway as the song died out. Keith’s bangs were standing up in a Mohawk from all the bubbles and Lance’s clothes were soaked to his socks.

            “Sorry, mom.” Lance squeaked. Keith didn’t move from the floor, where he’d fallen to avoid more bubbles.

            “Just make sure the floor isn’t soaked,” Mrs. McClain said, stifling a chuckle at Keith’s hair and expression.

            “Yes, ma’am,” Keith said, wide-eyed. She burst into laughter, shaking her head at the boys and leaving them to it. Keith started chuckling when he made eye contact with Lance.

            “You started it.” Lance insisted, causing Keith to clutch his sides in laughter.

            “In what world? You’re the one who grabbed me,”

            “I was serenading you!” Lance defended, throwing Keith a dishtowel. Keith dutifully mopped up the water splotches near him as he chuckled. “You ready to be getting home?” Lance asked, looking sadly at Keith.

            “Yeah. I should probably head home, make sure somebody fed Shiro.” He said, grinning softly. “C’mere.” Keith pulled Lance in by the collar of his shirt and kissed him. “I had the best day.”

            “Me too,” Lance said quietly. “I like you, Keith. I might even like like you.” Keith burst into laughter again, resting his head on the taller boy’s chest.

            “I like like you too, Lance.” He said as Lance pulled him into a hug.

            “Ew.” A tiny voice said from behind them. “Can I have a cookie, Keith?” Thomas held the package of sugar cookies.

            “Of course!” Keith said, kneeling down and popping the package open. Lance raised his eyebrow at Thomas, which prompted Thomas putting his hands behind his back and lifting his chin.

            “Thank you, Keith,” He chorused, appeasing his big brother.

            “You’re welcome.” Keith ruffled Thomas’s hair, and he squealed and ran away. Keith stood and turned to Lance, who put his hands on Keith’s hips and drew him close again.

            “I don’t wanna watch you drive away,” Lance admitted to the soap-matted strands on the top of Keith’s head.

            “I’ll be back in the morning to pick you up,” Keith promised, pressing a kiss to Lance’s jaw. A nefarious smirk spread across Lance’s face as he peeked under Keith’s scarf.

            “Oof. You got some cover-up for those tomorrow?” Keith blushed and shook his head. “Let’s go bug Louisa before you leave.” They traipsed back to Louisa’s room, where Lance knocked in a rhythm and Louisa called for him to come in.

            “What’s up?” She asked, sitting at her desk. Lance closed the door behind Keith.

            “Can Keith borrow some cover-up?” Louisa shot him a curious look as Lance whipped off Keith’s scarf. Keith huffed and crossed his arms as Louisa inspected his neck.

            “What did you do to the poor boy? You act like mom never feeds you,” She admonished. “Here,” Louisa pulled open the top drawer of her dresser and handed him a stick of green makeup, and a little tube of pale skin tone makeup. “I use that one as highlighter when I contour. You’re pale as hell.” Keith chuckled. “You put the green one on first, then the skin tone. And you, quit biting people! You nasty.” She said, poking Lance in the chest.

            “Thank you, Louisa,” Keith said, snatching his scarf back and wrapping it around his neck.

            “Give those back to Lance when they fade. You should be fine by this weekend.”

* * *

 

            “Shiro?” Keith called, stepping out of his boots and putting his helmet on the shelf.

            “How was dinner with the fam?” Shiro called from the couch.

            “They’re hysterical. We spent most of the night harassing Lance.” Shiro nodded at him.

            “As you do.” He looked at Keith, still completely dressed other than his boots, and squinted at his scarf. “You know, if you put a spoon in the fridge and just press down on hickeys, they go away faster.” He grinned at the shocked and appalled expression on Keith’s face. “No judgement.”

            “Whatever,” Keith murmured, admitting his defeat as he moved to the kitchen to put a spoon in the fridge. Shiro laughed and pumped his fist.

            “So I was right!” He stood from the couch and followed Keith into the kitchen.

            “Mrs. McClain said that the two of us are welcome over for dinner anytime,” Keith said, changing the subject. “She found out about Mom and Dad and now I think she’s concerned for our whole lives.” Shiro chuckled.

            “That’s nice of her.” He said genially.

            “What’d you have for dinner?” Shiro looked to the sink. “Good thing you only had a bowl of cereal because she also sent enough leftovers to feed an army.” Shiro laughed and accepted the plastic container from Keith’s backpack.

            “Wow, who does she think she’s feeding? A pack of elephants?” Keith laughed.

            “I think Lance told her I started T a while back, honestly. I had three plates,” Keith patted his belly. “I’m gonna shower and hit the sack.” Shiro held his leftover bowl up in salute to Keith as he climbed the stairs.

            He fell asleep and dreamed of he and Lance, sailing through the stars.


	13. But Like Picture Lance, Sitting In A Garden Of Magickal Herbs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The coven gets some tricks up their sleeve for the weekend, and Keith takes a walk on the wild side.

After class, Pidge and Hunk winked at each other and traipsed up to Shiro’s desk. Shiro turned from erasing the whiteboard and smiled at them.

“Hey, guys. What’s up?” Pidge leaned on the desk.

“So. A little bird told us it’s going to be Keith’s birthday soon.” Shiro raised an eyebrow at them. “By a little bird I mean I made his phone tell me.”

“You’re right,” Shiro allowed. He went to the door and poked his head out, assuring that no one was going to bother them, and shut the door. “What do you have planned?”

* * *

 

“Where’s Hunk and Pidge?” Keith said, sitting down at Coran’s back table. Lance locked eyes with Allura, who promptly turned to Coran.

“Maybe they’re talking to a teacher?” Coran offered, digging into his lunch. He was the only one who never accepted Hunk’s parents’ lunches and brought his own. Keith never saw what was within the lunchboxes, but judging by smell alone, it could very well have been ectoplasm.

“Don’t they have Shiro right before lunch?” Keith wondered.

“They could be talking to other teachers?” Lance said, phrasing it like a question. Allura shot him a meaningful look and Keith frowned at the three of them.

“Well then where’s Shiro?” He said, tugging out his phone.

“You know, I think Shiro was talking about some project they had due sometime soon.” Allura mused and Keith nodded.

“Maybe they’re just talking it over.” He said, shrugging. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something as Lance tapped away at his phone.

* * *

 

**The Supreme: YO HE’S ONTO US**

**read this in a disappointed voice: It’s been seven minutes.**

**The Supreme: HAH OH MY GOD, DID YOU PICK THAT NAME**

**read this in a disappointed voice: Lance. Focus. Ask him about what he’s doing this weekend.**

**Pidgeon: Shiro, he’s hanging out with us all weekend. You know this. I know this. Lance might even know this.**

**Hunkalicious: gdi guys**

**Princess: I asked him about schoolwork. Amateurs.**

**Nigel Thornberry Lite: Who is Nigel Thornberry?**

**The Supreme: ALFDKFJBAROINB**

* * *

 

            “Lance, what the hell,” Keith thumped Lance’s back as he choked on a French fry. “Breathe, you silly bastard,”

            “I’m sorry,” Lance wheezed.

            “What were you reading?” Lance took a long drag of his drink and locked his phone, trying to look casual.

            “Louisa texted me. It’s Spanish, but basically she was just talking shit on Dad.” Keith smirked and shook his head.

            “Okay,” He said, drawing out the first syllable.

* * *

 

**Princess: Lance just choked on a French fry at his own joke. Someone stop him.**

**Pidgeon: Don’t you think we’ve tried?**

**read this in a disappointed voice: We clearly got the chat set up, so we can just head to lunch now anyway.**

**Nigel Thornberry Lite: Great! See you soon! :)**

**The Supreme: It just gets funnier and funnier.**

* * *

That evening after school, Shiro and Keith spent some time running errands and cleaning up the house. It was a Wednesday, so the crew wasn’t due out of practice until later in the evening. They were going to come over and work on some homework, maybe watch a movie. Overall a really low-key evening. Keith couldn’t get the weirdness of lunch out of his head, though, and Shiro kept shooting him these odd looks when he thought Keith wouldn’t notice.

            “Shiro, what do you know?” Keith finally snapped as he was folding Shiro’s laundry at the kitchen table. Shiro almost dropped the plate he was loading into the dishwasher.

            “Well, I know that the ending of Tanis was a cop-out,” He said, breathing a sigh of relief as he regained his hold on the plate. Keith snarled and rolled his eyes.

            “You’ve been weird all day! And lunch was weird,” Keith ranted. “What’s going on?”

            “Nothing, dude. You sure you’re alright?” Shiro asked, trying his best to paint a trustworthy concerned look on his face.

            “Whatever.” Keith would figure it out somehow.

* * *

 

“I’m gonna get him some art supplies.” Lance decided. “Have you seen his sketchbook? He just uses like a mechanical pencil! Wonder what he could do with like, the good stuff,” He chirped.

            “I’m getting him that sports bra I showed him,” Pidge informed everyone. “I have it on good knowledge neither he nor Shiro have ordered it yet.”

            “Is he still binding in gym?” Hunk asked, eyebrows pinching together.

            “No, but he’s just wearing a normal sports bra.” Lance supplied, leaning on the table and watching Hunk stir his newest creation.

            “Bet that’s uncomfy,” Hunk sympathized, frowning. Lance nodded and pillowed his head on his arms. “I think I’m gonna get him some tarot cards.”

            “Tarot cards?” Allura echoed. “Has he shown any kind of proficiency?”

            “Not really, but I get the hunch he’d feel better if we roped him in a little bit. I mean, as much as we can, you know?” Allura nodded and smiled.

            “Then maybe I’ll get him a book on herb magick and some planters with seedlings!” She said brightly and Lance whined.

            “Well if you guys are all getting him magick stuff what should I get him?” Pidge rolled their eyes.

            “I’m not getting him magick stuff.” Lance ignored them.

            “Maybe I’ll add like a book on colour magick?” He mused.

            “That’d be nice!” Coran added, and Lance took that as gospel. Coran’s power was divination, and he usually didn’t pitch in unless he meant it.

            “Great! What are you going to get him, Coran?” Lance asked, sitting up.

            “I think I’ll get him a copy of the book we all started out with.” He said firmly. “If he’s going to be brought into the fold, the boy will need a sensible grimoire!”

            “Man, he’s gonna be so surprised,” Hunk gushed, taking the flask from Lance, who’d been heating it slowly.

            “If Shiro can keep his mouth shut.” Pidge snorted.

* * *

 

            Shiro tore around the corner, caught between a laugh and a scream. He dodged the couch pillow easily that Keith threw.

            “Tell me!” Keith bellowed as Shiro ran into his sandals and yanked the back door open.

            “Not a chance,” Shiro called back, running around the front of the house. He was soothed a bit by the fact that Keith refused to wear sandals and that he had a minute to get a plan together. Shiro spied the coffee shop down the street and tore off in that direction, hoping Keith would have the sense to not make a scene in public.

            “Damn it, Shiro!” Keith’s voice broke as he hopped out the back door, still pulling on one of his boots. He’d listened to Lance’s advice and actually untied them for once and was mentally cursing Lance’s name right next to his brother’s. Shiro ignored him and continued running for the relative safety of the coffee shop, dialing Lance’s phone number one-handedly.

            “Come get your boyfriend!” Shiro practically yelled. He spared a glance behind him to see Keith gaining on him. He winced at his choice in footwear.

            “What? What’s going on?” Lance said incredulously.

            “He’s trying to pump me for information! I had to run for it!” Shiro rounded the bend, almost sliding out of his shoes. He decided that should one pop off, it was lost forever. Nothing was worth getting caught by Keith.

            “Who are you calling?” Keith yelled, a laugh sneaking in around his annoyance. Shiro burst through the front door of the shop and startled the people sitting closest to the door. He told Lance the location and hung up the phone, smugly stepping up to the counter. Keith came into the shop quietly, but his eyes read murder under his bangs.

            “I’ll take a soy caramel macchiato,” Shiro said, tugging his wallet out of his sweatpants.

            “Coward,” Keith growled. “I’ll take the same, on him.”

            “I’m going to sit here until your boyfriend gets here. If that makes me a coward, so be it. I will live to see another day.” Shiro said, chuckling as he paid.

            “You called _Lance_?” Keith said incredulously.

            “I panicked,” Shiro said, defensive. “You tried to kill me.”

            “I did not,” Keith scoffed, pushing Shiro lightly. Shiro nudged Keith back with his shoulder as he reached out to take his coffee from the amused barista. They sat down at a table near the front window. “So like, are you actually hiding something or?” Keith trailed off.

            “Let’s not start this again,” Shiro chuckled, and Keith felt a flare of irritation. Why be so secretive? What’s the point? He gritted his teeth and his face felt hot. He wanted to stand up and run outside and scream, but logically he knew he was being ridiculous. That’s what the therapist would have said after his last high school. He was blowing things out of proportion. He didn’t have a grasp on his emotions. He needed to _calm down_.

The barista let out a startled gasp from behind them and ducked her head as the shelf containing all of the decorative coffee mugs behind the espresso machine popped loose from its moorings and dumped ceramic shards all over the floor. Shiro jumped up to see if she was okay, but Keith was rooted to the spot.

“Did that just fall all on its own?” A soccer mom asked her friend from a table adjacent.

“I dunno. Did you see that weird spark of purple light? I think I’m going crazy.”

* * *

 

            Lance, Hunk and Pidge pulled up to the coffee shop in Hunk’s yellow Beetle a few minutes later. Keith was sitting on the sidewalk outside, blearily clutching the macchiato. He felt heavy and tired, but he blamed that on the half-hour long chase he’d put in trying to murder Shiro.

            “What happened, dude?” Hunk asked, kneeling next to Keith on the sidewalk.

            “Oh, I just tried to kill Shiro. No big.” Keith hummed.

            “Where’s Shiro?” Pidge asked, their eyes scanning the sidewalk outside.

            “He’s inside. There was a weird accident with these mugs behind the barista. They all fell and he’s helping to clean up.” Keith said muzzily. Lance squinted at him.

            “Are you okay? You seem weird.” Keith shrugged and leaned into Hunk’s touch on his back.

            “I chased Shiro all around the house then over here. Probably just sleepy.” Hunk frowned at Keith, then at Lance.

            “Okay, buddy. We’ll drive you all back to the house. Pidge, wanna sit with Keith? Me and Lance can go help Shiro so we can get to their house.” Lance whined at being drug inside to help clean, but followed Hunk anyway.  

            “You think there’s something weird with Keith?” Hunk asked as the door shut.

            “Not really? Why?” Lance asked, taking the proffered dustpan from Shiro as a way of greeting. Hunk shimmied his shoulders. He’d been feeling weird about Keith for a while now, but couldn’t pin down what was wrong.

            “I dunno, man. Forget it.”

* * *

 

            They were spread out in the living room again. Keith was trying his best to keep focused, but he kept nodding off and spacing out, alternately.

            Why was he so spent? He’d never felt this tired after a rousing round of “Murder Shiro or Die Trying”. The last time he felt this lethargic was after the disaster at school. His stomach turned thinking about it. He still doesn’t remember that day fully, but he remembers the aftermath in stark detail. The fire alarm screaming, students pouring out around him from the locker rooms, the bully he’d been facing, expression fearful. He’d been shoved to the ground as the bully ran, twisting his ankle at an odd angle.

            “Yo, Keith,” Hunk asked, nudging his shoulder. “You okay, man?”

            “Yeah. Just real spacey. Do we still have that paper due Friday, Lance?” Lance talked him through the requirements of the English paper and offered to read it for him, if he’d read Lance’s. Shiro eyed Keith wearily from the table. He wasn’t sure what was going on with him, but he looked completely beat.

            “Do you guys want some dinner?” He asked, standing and moving toward the kitchen. Grateful for the reprieve from homework, everyone piled into the kitchen to “help”, which meant Lance was throwing grapes at Keith and Hunk for them to catch in their mouths.

            “So like, what were you guys into when you were kids?” Hunk asked casually between grapes. Shiro raised an eyebrow as he set up the rice cooker in the corner of the kitchen. “My house was a Pokémon house, no doubt about it.”

            “Matt was real into like these old cartoons, like Thunder Cats and He-Man, so that’s what I watched.” Pidge chipped in.

            “Matt?” Shiro asked.

            “Oh, my older brother. He works out of town, now. He’s lame but we like him anyway.” Shiro chuckled.

            “Well, I watched a whole lot of anime,” Lance admitted. “When Louisa got old enough to care, we watched like, magical girl stuff together? It’s really ironic, I know. My fave was Sailor Moon. Tuxedo Mask was really something,”

            “Was Tuxedo Mask your gay awakening?” Keith chuckled at him.

            “No!” Lance denied, throwing Keith’s grape a little harder than strictly necessary. “Yes.” Keith laughed.

            “Well, we watched Power Rangers. I love Power Rangers so much, even now. Like even though the new stuff is trash, I’ll still watch it,” Keith said, shaking his head. “Shiro, remember when we used to play Power Rangers?” Shiro grinned.

            “How could I forget? This monster broke my nose,” Keith laughed. It was clearly an argument they had often.

            “I didn’t _break your nose_ ,” He said, grinning ear to ear. “It only bled a little.”

            “Of course,” Lance said. “All fair in love, war, and beating your sibling’s ass.”

            “Consider my ass fairly beat, then.” Shiro snarked, making Keith chuckle again.

            “I got really into it.”

            “He kicked me in the face. Twice.” Shiro said flatly.

            “Twice? You went back for more bloodshed?” Hunk said, laughing incredulously.

            “I’m surprised he didn’t go in for a third. Being the small sibling is hard.” Pidge replied. “Matt used to duct tape me to walls and say ‘What do you call a Pidge hanging on a wall?’ and he wouldn’t let me down until I agreed to let him call me ‘Art’.”

            “I’ll duct tape you to the wall right now, Pidgey.” Lance said, tossing them a grape. They batted it out of the air, glaring at him.

            “Don’t bet on it.”

* * *

 

**Hunkalicious: Consider the reconnaissance done. Coran, check out Power Rangers party supplies.**

**Nigel Thornberry Lite: Got it!**

**read this in a disappointed voice: I told you guys.**

**Pidgeon: Well, we had to be sure. It’s gonna be perfect.**

**The Supreme: Duh. We’re planning it. T-Minus two days.**


	14. I Also Imagine Pidge Dressed Like Neo a la The Matrix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only a day left until Keith's birthday, but Keith finds himself in over his head when he should be asleep in his bed.

           Keith ran. Trees rushed past him in a blur as branches whipped at his face and tugged at his hair. His feet were bare and rocks bit at the soles of his feet, but he was too afraid to stop running. He could never stop running. He couldn’t be caught. A cry sounded above him and he tipped his head up to see a crow, keeping pace with him in the light of the full moon.

            He sat up with a gasp. He was in his room, not outside. The chill of the forest air still clung to his clothes and skin and he rubbed a hand down his face.

            “What the fuck,” He murmured, swinging his legs out of bed. With a frown, he turned on his bedside lamp. His feet were filthy and bruised, sluggishly bleeding from a few small abrasions.

* * *

“There was no context,” Keith insisted. “All the sudden I was running through the woods and there was this bird above me, and I woke up and there was all kinds of dirt and blood on my sheets.”

            “That’s a cliché,” Shiro sighed. “Did you throw your sheets in the washer?”

            “Yeah,” Keith sighed, sagging into his chair at the table. “I’m exhausted like I spent all night actually running through the woods.” Shiro eyed him.

            “You can stay home if you want.” He offered, taking in the dark circles around Keith’s eyes and the pinched set of his mouth. “You look like hell.”

            “I want to tell everybody about this. It sounds…” Keith paused.

            “Like something from a movie? Specifically a movie about witches?” Shiro said wearily. Keith buried his head in his arms, folded on the table.

            “Something like that,” He groaned.

            “You can always have them over after school if you just want to sleep,” Shiro tried again. Keith shook his head and scooped up his backpack.

            “No, but you have to drive.” Shiro blinked in surprise at him. Even when Keith had almost died of pneumonia, he had driven his motorcycle to school.

            “Alright,” Shiro said quickly, shrugging his jacket on. “Let’s head out.”

* * *

 

By some miracle, Iverson was allowing them to walk around the gym or play basketball. Keith wasn’t sure he could handle playing anything that involved any level of attention, so he, Lance, Pidge and Hunk made circuits of the gym as they brainstormed what could possibly have happened.

            “Was there evidence that you left and came back into the house?” Pidge asked, their face a mask of concentration.

            “I’m not sure. There wasn’t feet blood on the floor anywhere, and Shiro wasn’t like vacuuming this morning. My bed was absolutely filthy, but the rest of my bedroom had no dirt or blood anywhere.” Keith insisted.

            “Blood?” Lance asked, looking down at Keith’s feet. “How bad?”

            “Pretty banged up, honestly,” Keith admitted, lifting a foot and tugging down a sock. Even his ankles were scraped and bruised. Lance hissed and gave Hunk a look.

            “We still have some of that ointment downstairs,” Hunk offered. “We can slap some on after gym class and Allura will give us a late slip.”

            “Awesome,” Keith sighed. “I just don’t understand how I appeared and reappeared. I genuinely felt like I was in the woods.”

            “What kind of bird was it?” Pidge broke in. They had been staring intently at their phone for the past few minutes, trying to shake information out of their digital Book of Shadows.

            “A crow, I’m pretty sure.” He supplied. Pidge hummed and continued their search.

            “Right,” Lance said after a pause. “What are you thinking, Pidge?”

            “I’m not sure yet. Give me until the end of the day and I’ll have a more concrete answer,” Pidge said mechanically, still face first in the Book of Shadows.

            “Pidge isn’t here right now, leave a message after the tone,” Hunk joked. “So, you guys wanna hang out at my place tomorrow for a while? We can play some video games,” Hunk said leadingly. Shiro, Allura, and Coran needed some time to set up the party at Shiro and Keith’s.

            “Sure,” Keith said easily. “I can’t do anything tonight, though. Shiro and I are doing brother stuff for my birthday.”

            “Wait, it’s your birthday?! When?” Lance said, flailing his arms. “Why wouldn’t you tell your poor, sweet, novio when your birthday is?” Hunk rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Lance had absolutely insisted that he try and lead Keith away from the conclusion that there would be any kind of party. Keith scrunched his nose as Lance grasped his shoulders.

            “Does it actually matter?” Keith asked.

            “Of course!” Lance crowed. “We gotta spoil the birthday boy!”

            “It’s actually today,” Keith said shyly. Excitement bloomed on Lance’s face, and Hunk had to admit, the boy could _act._

            “Really? Novio, don’t worry about a thing today. Here,” He bent down slightly, sticking his elbows out and cupping his hands. “Climb on!”

            “Lance, Iverson’s not going to let you piggyback me for the rest of the period,” Keith said flatly, crossing his arms.

            “Let me deal with Iverson! Climb on!” Keith couldn’t help but crack a grin as Lance nearly vibrated out of his shoes with excitement. Keith glanced at Hunk, tossed a shoulder in nonchalance, and flung himself at Lance. Lance let out a shriek that boiled into a belly laugh and almost fell over but righted himself at the last moment as Keith tightened his grip around Lance’s waist with his legs. Lance kept walking as Keith nuzzled into his neck.

            “You’re something else, you know that?” Keith said lowly into Lance’s ear. He felt Lance shiver and saw the back of Lance’s neck and throat heat up with a flush.

            “You can’t just murmur sweet nothings into a guy’s ear when he’s wearing gym shorts,” Lance hissed.

            “Can’t I?” Keith said, lower and breathier.

            “Keith,” Lance groaned. “Have some compassion, here. At least I’ve got you covered.” Keith squinted at Lance.

            “Lance,” He said, grinning. “I don’t have that kind of problem.” Lance blushed even darker.

            “I, uh. I forgot.” Keith laughed into Lance’s shoulder, and after the embarrassment faded a bit, he joined in. “Sorry,” Lance apologized. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

            “No, no,” Keith said, squeezing Lance lightly. “Makes me feel nice that you forget. Makes me just feel like a guy.”

            “You are just a guy,” Lance huffed. “I’ll say it a thousand times if you need me to.”

            “McClain. Kogane.” Iverson said flatly as they passed the table where he sat and observed the class. “The whole point of gym class is to get some exercise.”

            “I’m getting enough exercise for both of us, Mr. Iverson,” Lance chirped.

            “That’s not how exercise works, McClain.” He replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.

            “And he’s got fucked up feet,” Lance continued like he hadn’t heard Iverson. He let go of one of Keith’s thighs and carefully eased his shoe off and pulled off his sock.

            “Language,” Iverson said tiredly, but he inspected Keith’s foot nonetheless. “That’s kinda fucked up, actually,” He murmured.

            “And, it’s his birthday today. So I’m gonna give my boyfriend a piggyback ride on his birthday.” He said resolutely. Iverson stared back at Lance, who was beaming. It’s possible he had no idea what he’d just said, what he’d just admitted out loud. Keith’s breath hitched and his eyes widened in fear, waiting for Iverson’s voice to rise above the sounds of shoes squeaking and other kids laughing and shouting.

            “Alright, McClain. Don’t make a habit of it, alright?” Iverson said, rolling his eyes. “Keep the pace up. No slacking on Keith’s account.”

            “Sir, yes, sir!” Lance said, trying to get Keith’s sock and shoe back on without dropping the boy in question. After a moment, Iverson sighed long-sufferingly and snatched the shoe and sock off of Keith and replaced both gingerly.

            “What happened to your feet, Kogane?” Iverson asked as he was tying his shoelaces. “I know you’re living with your brother and it can’t be easy… Is he… Are you alright?” Keith realized what Iverson was asking the same time Lance did. Lance tensed as Keith opened his mouth.

            “I sleepwalk,” Keith said flatly. “I managed to get outside. New house. No deadbolts on the doors yet. Shiro’s going today.” Iverson nodded once, tightly.

            “Of course,” Iverson said, holding up his hands in surrender. His eyes were still suspicious, however. “My mistake.” Keith glared back at him as Lance walked away from where Iverson was now standing by the table.

            “Wow, uh?” Lance stammered. “What the hell was that?”

            “I’m pretty sure Iverson just accused Shiro of beating the hell out of me,” Keith said in a small voice against Lance’s neck. Lance tilted his head to rest against Keith’s and he pulled Keith in tight.

            “At least he was looking out for you,” Lance offered. Keith nodded once.

            “But not for Shiro,” He said quietly.

            “We’ll look out for Shiro,” Lance said, puffing out his chest.

* * *

 

Lance insisted on carrying Keith to his following classes and picking him up for lunch. Keith tried to protest, but Lance kissed him every time he opened his mouth until Keith clambered onto his back, blushing furiously.

            “This is as much for your birthday as it is for your feet,” Lance admitted. “Hunk has some salve in Allura’s room. That’s where we’re going to have lunch today so we can smother your feet in it.”

            “Thank you, Lance,” Keith said seriously. “I mean it.” Lance squeezed Keith’s knee fondly.

            “Of course, novio. You’d do it for me!” Lance said, grinning back at Keith.

            “I dunno. You’re all limbs,” Keith drawled and Lance squawked. Keith chuckled as Lance ranted about the merits of giving Lance piggyback rides and held Lance close. He wondered if Lance could feel the thudding of his heart through the back of his hoodie because it felt like it’d beat out of his chest. Lance was so comfortable with casual contact in a way that Keith suspected he’d never be able to be.

            “Hey, guys!” Lance chirped when he made it down to Allura’s room. “Let’s fix up this handsome man’s feet, stat!” He set Keith down on one of the long tables used as desks in the art room and Keith got to work peeling off his shoes and socks.

            “Keith,” Shiro admonished. “Those look horrible,”

            “I was running through the woods,” Keith said drily. “With no shoes.”

            “Were you wearing your pyjamas? Did you have any memory at all of the previous day? Why were you running, versus just walking or sitting? Did you make the decision to run or did you start the dream running? Could you see the moon?” Pidge asked, rapid fire. Keith paused.

            “Yes, no, I was terrified and running from something, I don’t remember, yes, it was full.” He said, blinking.

            “Okay.” They responded, turning back to their phone. Keith didn’t know what to glean from the questions.

            “Just let them go,” Hunk advised, taking one of Keith’s heels in hand. “They’ll either figure it out or come at you with seventy more questions.”

            “How bad does it hurt?” Lance asked, sitting down next to Keith and handing him his lunch.

            “Not too bad,” Keith lied, shrugging. “I bet I’ll be just fine after Dr. Hunk gets through with me.” Hunk chuckled and tucked his chin.

            “Not a doctor.” He protested. “And when I am a doctor, it won’t be that _kind_ of doctor,”

            “Right, right, whatever,” Lance said, playfully punching Hunk’s shoulder. “Still cooler than me.” Hunk just shook his head and started gently applying a salve that smelled more like a kitchen than a medicine cabinet. He put gauze over top of the larger cuts and worked the salve into the skin over the bruises like lotion.

            “Give that until tonight, and most of that should clear up. It’ll start numbing soon, though, so you should be able to walk on it without it giving you grief.” Keith replaced his socks and shoes.

            “Thank you,” He said sincerely.

            “So, Keith. I hear from Shiro that you’re going out for dinner for your birthday?” Coran called from across the room.

            “Yeah! We’re going to go into the city, get some dinner, watch a movie.” Keith said, grinning.

            “That sounds great, boys!” Allura chirped. “I didn’t know it was your birthday,”

            “Yeah, I didn’t even think about it,” Keith said honestly, shrugging. “I usually don’t really do a lot, so I didn’t even consider telling you guys.”

            “A Scorpio, eh?” Coran said, raising one eyebrow.

            “Yeah, Scorpio,” Keith said, frowning. “Does that mean something?”

            “Means a great deal,” Coran said, waving Keith off. “But nothing you probably don’t already know or will know soon.” Keith busied himself in his hamburger to avoid giving Coran the stink eye at how vague he was being. Conversation floated around him, but Keith couldn't really pay attention. Not only was he exhausted, but there was a vague sense of euphoria stemming from the salve, and when he peeked under his sock, the bruises were already all gone. Hunk had said it'd take until that night, but maybe it was a little stronger than he remembered, or maybe the bruises looked worse than they actually were.

            “Your carriage awaits,” Lance said a the end of the period, bending down. Keith grinned and climbed on his back, even though his feet didn’t hurt anymore.

            **  
**


	15. I Want to Give Pidge Circuit Board Tattoos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best-laid plans...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everybody. I want to reiterate that all of your comments and kudos really, really help. I know that every author says this, and I know that you guys know this, but it really makes me feel so amazing to know that you guys are reading this and enjoying it. Sometimes, I think that people don't give a shit about what I write and that my writing is terrible. Y'all help me beat that back in my head. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
> 
> On with the show...

“This place looks great,” Shiro complimented Keith from the sidewalk outside. Keith shot him a dry look. It did _not_ look great. Keith had done exactly one internet search for a place that served red bean buns in the city, found an address, and told Shiro about it.

The sign was hanging by a single screw. Shiro and Keith couldn’t read it anyway. English or Japanese, neither of them knew, but the lights were on and there was a man standing behind the counter, scrolling idly on his phone.

“Whatever,” Keith snorted, punching at his brother’s shoulder. “Let’s just get some sushi and go see the movie.”

“It is your birthday,” Shiro said, holding the door open. “So my wish is your demand, little brother.”

“Oh my god,” Keith scoffed, traipsing in the door.

“Table just for you guys?” The guy asked, looking up from his phone.

“Yep, just us.” Keith confirmed, looking around. It was pretty barren for a city restaurant, but he figured not every restaurant could be shiny and covered in decorations.

“You guys need menus?” The guy asked, gesturing toward a table near the front window.

“Yes please,” Shiro said, having a seat. Keith sat down as well, looking over the menu quickly. He chose almost immediately then settled in for Shiro to hem and haw about what he wanted for the next fifteen minutes.

“Salmon or tuna, you think?” Shiro asked.

“You always like tuna more,” Keith replied flatly.

“You’re right,” Shiro hummed. “I don’t think spicy,”

“Yeah, you get heartburn.” Keith said, looking out the window. A crow sat on a sign across the street. He watched as it hopped up and down on the sign. It read “The Morrigan” and Keith squinted in the front windows.

“Do you want some edamame?” Shiro asked, scanning the list of apps.

“Uh, too much estrogen,” Keith replied absently. The crow was pecking at the sign, looking from the sign to Keith. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same crow from his dream.

“Right, right,” Shiro said, frowning at the list. “We can get some soup or something,”

“Sounds good,” Keith agreed, scraping his chair back. “Listen, I’ll be right back.”

“What? Where are you going?” Shiro asked, looking around.

“Following a hunch,” Keith tapped on what he wanted on the menu. “Grab me this, okay?”

“Okay,” Shiro agreed. “I still don’t know what I want.”

“Two tuna hand rolls and that special roll with the eel in it. You’ll still be hungry so pick a roll without cream cheese in it, but you’ll probably order that later when they come back to fill up our water.” Keith replied on autopilot, tapping a message to Lance on his phone.

 

**Novio: hey. there’s a crow hopping up and down frantically on a sign for a place called ‘the morrigan’. it looks like it’s trying to get my attention. ring a bell?**

Keith didn’t expect an immediate response, so he slid his phone into his pocket and went right over to the shop. It was open.

The crow stopped jumping up and down and squawked at him, eyeing him up. Keith locked eyes with it and got a chill down his spine. He wasn’t sure if it was because it was October or if it was because he was slightly terrified of what the shop held.

He opened the door. A waft of incense met his nose and he wrinkled it, the perfume almost heavy enough to taste.

“Hello,” A reedy voice called from the back of the shop. A frail old woman sat on a rocking chair in front of a huge bookshelf, rocking herself with a walking stick. “How can we help you?” Keith case his eyes around the shop.

Rows and rows of books crowded every surface, interspersed with piles of herbs in baskets and stacks of varying kinds of crystals. An entire wall of shelves full of candles and bottles of oil stood to his right, and a surprisingly huge fireplace for the space available sat in the back right corner of the shop. A bead curtain lead to a back room behind the fireplace.

“I’m not sure,” Keith admitted. “I just… There was this crow?” Keith said, putting a hand on his face. “It sounds ridiculous out loud,” Keith sighed.

“No, it doesn’t.” The old woman said gently. “We can help you. Come, have a seat.” She indicated a stool near the rocking chair and straddled it, feeling very much out of his element. “What’s your name, young man?”

“Keith,” He said, looking closer at the books he was now sitting in front of. The titles made him squint. Phases of the Moon?

“Hello, Keith.” She greeted, inclining her head. “You said there was a crow outside?”

“Yeah, I had a dream about a crow,” Keith babbled, putting a hand on his neck. “I dunno, I just felt like I had to come here.”

“A perfectly acceptable answer,” The woman nodded, closing her eyes in agreement. “I think I have just the thing for you, young man.”

“I don’t have any cash on me,” Keith said, shaking his head. “I can come back,”

“No, no. I insist.” The woman stood, looking far sturdier than Keith would have pegged her for. She made her way to a basket of herbs and deftly stripped a dried lavender plant of its flowers, then dropped them into a small purple sack. She took a few more herbs that Keith couldn’t identify as well as a few crystals and dropped them into the sack, then pulled a threaded needle off of her shawl and quickly stitched it shut. Keith watched in amazement as she moved to the wall of candles and set a blue one down on a small mirrored plate on the counter and took a bottle of oil, smearing some of it all over the candle with a hand.

The candle lit itself and the woman winked at him. His eyebrows raised, but he didn’t say anything.

He should have known this was some kind of witch thing. Damn it, Lance.

The woman spoke a few words in a language Keith didn’t recognize before passing the sack over the candle three times and returning to where Keith sat.

“I’ll burn the candle and bury it for you, lovie.” The woman promised. “Place this under your pillow.”

“What will it do?” He looked suspiciously at the sack. It smelled incredible.

“Most people would want to stop those dreams you’ve been having.” The woman sat back down in her rocking chair. “For you, son, I think you’re going to need to be able to search for answers. Go along, now. Your brother is starting to worry.”

“What?” Keith asked, blinking at the woman in shock. “How did you know?”

“Go along,” The woman was now shooing him out of the shop and he obeyed, looking between the sack and her gently smiling face. “Merry met, Keith.”

“Merry met, ma’am,” A bewildered Keith responded on his way out the door. The crow, still sat on the sign, screamed at him.

He stumbled across the street.

“Where did you go?” Shiro asked when he sat back down. Keith looked down at the sack in his hand.

“I think I went right where I was supposed to,”

* * *

 

“Yeah, it just looks like a satchet for sleep,” Hunk said, poking at it. “Has a few extra things, that as far as I can tell, are for protection.”

“As far as you can tell?” Keith repeated, squinting at him.

“Well, I’m not going to open it.” Hunk said, giving it back. “I think you should use it.” Keith paused for a moment nodding.

“She seemed really helpful, I guess,” He replied.

“Did you tell Shiro? Lance?” Hunk asked, looking at him from the driver’s seat.

“I told Lance,” Keith hedged.

“Why not Shiro?” Hunk asked. “He’s probably worried.”

“That’s why I don’t really want to tell him the whole thing,” Keith said, chewing on his thumb nail and worrying one of the stitches on the satchet.

“I mean, that’s your decision. Can we tell Pidge? Allura? Coran?” Hunk asked, now terrified of being a part of a secret.

“I’ll tell everyone tomorrow. I’m going to try the satchet tonight and see if it does anything crazy.” Keith decided. “If I figure something out, I’ll just have more to tell everyone.”

“That seems like the exact backwards way to go about this, but alright.” Hunk said lowly, turning back into Keith’s driveway. “But I respect your decision. You text me right when you wake up, okay?”

“Okay.” Keith agreed.

“Happy birthday, Keith. Stay safe, alright?” Keith nodded, offering Hunk a knuckle touch. Hunk took it and Keith shut the car door, striding into the house.

“Have fun with Hunk?” Shiro asked from the dining room table.

“Yeah, we just drove around for a bit and talked.” Keith said truthfully, putting on a pot of tea.

 

**lance: You alright? Do you want me to come over?**

**Novio: no, lance. it’s alright. i’m just going to pass out. i’m going to tell everyone what happened tomorrow.**

**lance: Okay. Get some sleep, alright? Call me right when you wake up.**

**Novio: i promise. don’t worry about me.**

“Okay. You guys all alright? You’ve been acting weird since dinner,” Shiro said, looking at him from over the glasses he wore to grade papers.

“Yeah, we’re all alright. Thanks, Shiro. I had fun today.” Keith said, going over to hug his brother. “I’m going to go to bed.”

“It’s a little early for you, buddy,” Shiro observed, hugging Keith back.

“It’s ten o’clock,” Keith snarked, making Shiro smirk at him.

“You stay up until one,” Shiro said flatly. Keith rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, I’m tired. Love you, Shiro.” Shiro messed up Keith’s hair and chuckled.

“Love you too, lil bro. Get some rest.”

* * *

 

Keith stared up at the ceiling for almost an hour, getting whiffs of lavender and whatever else was in the satchet. Hunk said nothing would hurt him, even when Keith told him about the candle thing. The worst that would happen would be that he slept more soundly that he would have otherwise.

That gave him pause.

Did he _want_ to sleep soundly if he was being chased through the woods by something he couldn’t see?

He eventually managed to stop chasing his thoughts around in circles long enough to shut his eyes.

He opened them lying on his back on the forest floor. A crow sat in a branch above him, hopping up and down like the one had outside of the shop.

“Hello?” He asked, sitting up. He’d gotten wise. He fell asleep in clothes and his boots.

“Ah, there you are.” A voice said from behind him. He whipped around, but no one was there. His heart leapt into his throat. “Finally stopped running, I see.”

“Who are you?” Keith demanded of the disembodied voice.

“Never mind who I am,” The voice insisted. “I’m rather more concerned with who _you_ are.”

“ _You’re_ the one in _m y _head,” Keith snapped, crossing his arms.

“Am I?” The voice asked, followed by a laugh that made the hair on the back of Keith’s neck stand straight up. “Well, isn’t that interesting.” Keith wasn’t aware he’d done anything interesting. “Now, I think that’s quite enough talk for now.”

“What?” Keith asked, eyes widening.

“Let’s see what you do,” The voice purred. Leaves crackled ahead of him and the shaggy head of a bear emerged from the brush.

“Oh, shit,” Keith said, taking a tentative step back. “Shit, shit, shit,”

He woke up with scratches and bruises on his feet the night before.

Would he even wake up if a bear tore his throat out?

He turned and took off away from where the growling bear stood. He heard the crow take off from its perch and he looked up to see that it was following him.

The moon was full.

The crow shrieked from above him and took a violent right. Keith followed on a whim, hoping the bear crashing through the brush would just keep charging straight through the brush.

It didn’t, but the crow swooped ahead and Keith followed.

It felt like he ran through an entire wall made of cobwebs and he closed his eyes to brush them off frantically. If he died while being mauled, he would bloody well die while being mauled but he would absolutely not die covered in spiders.

He opened his eyes to broad daylight.

“What the fuck?” He murmured, looking around. A young woman sat on a stone by a stream, watching him.

“Hello, Keith.” She said. Her voice was clipped and she watched him with piercing blue eyes. Black hair tumbled down her back, and her black dress clung to her body. She was soaked. “You did well finding this place. You will be safe here.”

“Where’s here?” Keith asked, breathing a little heavily. He wasn’t sure how much more of this crazy shit he could take. The woman smirked.

“Safe. Now, be silent.” The woman turned back to the stream. Keith crept closer, bewildered. She was washing plate armour in the stream. Keith wanted to ask questions, but a sharp look from the woman made him just sit cross-legged on the rock and watch.

After her task was done, she turned to him and waved a dismissive hand.

“You’re free to go.” Keith looked around in shock. Darkness had fallen in an instant. The woman watched him with her steely gaze.

“Thank you,” He said, standing from the rock with wobbly legs. She said nothing in return; only watched him walk deeper into the forest.

Keith woke with a gasp.

“What the fuck?” He sat bolt upright, swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and held his head in his hands. His alarm blared from beside him and he slapped at the alarm clock irritably. He flopped back onto his bed and picked up his phone. Time to face the music.

* * *

 

Pidge was up to their neck in digital files, using their magic to pull them off of the screen and fan them out in front of them in a giant panel of information.

They still weren’t satisfied with the results.

Allura, Coran, and Shiro wrote excuses for the kids to come to their rooms, exchanging every period, as they stayed in Allura’s back room all day. They were frantically trying to figure out what had happened to Keith, but they were no closer to an answer than they had been that morning when Keith had shakily recounted his tale to his brother, Lance, and Hunk who had rounded up the troops.

“We’ll figure this out, Keith.” Shiro had said firmly, looking Keith in his eyes. They were smudged with the purple bruising of not sleeping well that had always painted Keith’s face after too many late nights.

(Shiro felt like his chest was being sat on the entire time he tried to teach his class. Not his brother. He wished that whatever it was would take him instead.

“Mr. Shirogane?” A girl raised her hand. “Mr. Shirogane?” She repeated, drawing Shiro from his reverie.

“I’m sorry, Hannah,” Shiro said, rubbing his face. “I spaced out. Where were we?”

“You were explaining ionic bonds,” Hannah supplied kindly. He nodded at her and gave her a bonus point in his grade book, continuing to read from his notes and writing on the board.)

“If you want to nap, we’ll wake you up in a half an hour. It wouldn’t be long enough for anything bad to happen, but long enough to get some rest.” Lance offered, looking down at where Keith was pillowed on his lap. Lance was reading through books on dreams until the words began to swim together.

“That sounds good. Thanks, baby,” Keith said muzzily, burrowing into Lance’s lap. Lance locked eyes with Hunk as his heart melted at the nickname. “Night.”

“Night, novio,” He said, running a hand through Keith’s hair. Keith was asleep almost instantly.

“Got anything, Pidge?” Lance asked, voice just barely kept from shaking.

“Not yet,” They said, looking up from the massive amount of information they were trying to sort through. “Is he okay?”

“I hope so,” Lance said, frowning down at Keith. “He’s exhausted.”

“It sounds like he’s had two days with no sleep,” Hunk sighed. “And he’s trying to do it alone.”

“Can you blame him?” Lance said, rubbing his free hand down his face. “I got him into this,”

“What do you mean?” Hunk said, frowning at his best friend.

“He wouldn’t be dealing with this if I hadn’t had a crush on him when he got here.” Hunk rolled his eyes.

“Listen, Lance. What if he still was dealing with this, but he just didn’t know us? He would actually be dealing with it alone then. Just him and Shiro.” Hunk reasoned.

“We don’t know that,” Lance said, brushing Keith’s bangs out of his eyes.

“We don’t know that he would be better off, either. Let’s focus on making this situation better because we’re not leaving him, alright?” Hunk said, gently punching Lance on the shoulder. Lance nodded, looking back down to the book.

Hunk’s pep talks were always the best. Lance read deeply for the next thirty minutes before Allura poked her head into the room to let everyone know that it was time to take a new excuse to another class.

“Is he alright?” Allura asked gently.

“Yeah, it’s time to wake him up anyway. It was just a short nap, make him feel less like trash.” Lance supplied, shaking his shoulder. Keith blinked his eyes open and stretched, reminding Lance so much of a cat.

“Hey,” Keith croaked.

“Any bad dreams?” Lance asked. Keith shook his head. “Good. We’ll keep making you nap in short intervals.”

“You don’t have to watch me,” Keith said, sitting up.

“You’d do the same for me, novio.” Lance pressed a kiss to Keith’s forehead. “Let’s go skive another class, alright?” Keith chuckled.

“Alright.”

* * *

 

The school day was out and they still had no answers. Each member of the coven had questioned Keith multiple times, but they couldn’t figure out how someone could be pushing dreams on Keith, nor how to get them to stop.

“The old woman at the shop said it was supposed to give me answers,” Keith murmured, face down on his couch. The coven was scattered around the living room. “All I got was bears.” Shiro snorted at his brother.

“Take another nap, kiddo. You’re getting delirious.”

“Sure,” Keith replied, letting his eyes slide shut. “Fuckin’ bears,”

Keith woke up flat on his back on the forest floor. He jumped to his feet, wild-eyed and swearing.

“Oh, my,” The disembodied voice chided, echoing all around him. Keith swore more viciously and kicked at a tree in anger. “Do you kiss your boyfriend with that mouth?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Keith said after only a beat of silence. He started jogging preemptively. The entire forest looked the same. He couldn’t figure out where his little bubble of protection would be and the crow was nowhere in sight.

“Admirable attempt, Keith. But I know everything about you already. No reason to hide.” The voice purred. Keith felt like he needed a shower just from hearing it.

“What do you want from me?” Keith asked, picking up the pace.

“Only to observe.” The voice told him. It faded out and replacing it was the crashing sound of something chasing him. Keith didn’t even turn; he couldn’t, not with whatever it was hot on his heels.

“Keith!” Shiro’s voice startled him enough to put a hitch in his step. Claws raked down his back and he cried out. “Keith! Keith, please wake up,” Shiro begged. Keith fell to his knees and closed his eyes.

He blinked them open, lying on the couch. He was surrounded by horrified faces and Shiro’s hand scrabbled at the back of Keith’s shirt.

“Holy shit,” Pidge breathed.

“I’m already on my way to get something,” Hunk yelled, voice breaking as he dove out the door. Lance had tears in his eyes as he returned from the kitchen with paper towels.

“What?” Keith asked, voice hoarse.

“Keith, don’t move,” Shiro ordered, taking the paper towels from Lance. “You started screaming, then all the sudden you’re bleeding on the couch.”

“How bad?” Keith asked, looking wearily at Shiro.

“Not all that deep,” Shiro said truthfully. He was holding himself together, but only just. “Pidge, can you go to the bathroom and grab the first aid kit from under the sink?” They said nothing as they got up and sprinted to the bathroom. Keith could feel how Shiro’s hand shook from where they held the paper towels to his back.

“Novio,” Lance said, taking Keith’s hand. He couldn’t force anything else out around the lump in his throat.

“Lance, I’m okay,” Keith said softly. He was already getting tired again. Pidge returned with the first aid kit and Shiro instructed Pidge on how to bandage up Keith’s back, as he couldn’t do it with one hand.

“That should hold until Hunk gets back,” Shiro said, voice weary.

“Thanks, Shiro,” Keith said, equally exhausted. Hunk returned, huffing and wheezing but holding a big glass canister of a white cream.

“How fast did you drive?” Pidge asked incredulously.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to,” Hunk replied, kneeling down in front of Keith. “This is gonna sting a little bit, buddy, but you’ll feel much better in a few, alright?”

“Do what you gotta do, Hunk. I trust you.” Keith said muzzily, eyes sliding shut. Shiro’s breath caught in his throat and he flashed a look at Lance. Lance rubbed a hand down his face as Hunk carefully applied the cream and replaced the bandages.

“He should be in bed, resting, but I don’t want to send him back to that place.” Hunk said quietly.

“I’ll take him upstairs and keep an eye on him,” Lance offered, standing.

“I can do that,” Shiro said, frowning at Lance.

“I really… I have to.” Lance said, taking a shuddering breath. Shiro looked Lance up and down before nodding.

“I’ll take the next shift. Wake him if you think absolutely anything is happening.” Shiro ordered, eyes soft.

“Will do,” Lance replied, rousing Keith and getting him to climb onto his back. Lance wished he was just toting him around school this time.

The downstairs was quiet for a few moments before Hunk frowned.

“So, is the birthday party a no-go, then?”

            **  
**


	16. Oh, Yeah! Hunk Still Wears His Bandana. It Has Beads On The Tails.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge makes a breakthrough, and Lance has a meltdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI FOLKS. so,,, this is 1) incredibly short 2) about a year late 3) did i say short
> 
> BUT.
> 
> this is the start of me holding myself to a weekly update schedule! i'm going to try my absolute damndest to update this weekly, on thursdays. 
> 
> what happened that kept me away from this lovely, favorite, beautiful little gem of an AU is pretty exciting: I STARTED AND FINISHED MY FIRST NOVEL-LENGTH ORIGINAL WORK.
> 
> she's about 125k words and got werewolves in it! i also won nanowrimo this year with the sequel, so i've been pretty damn busy. i know it's no excuse to COMPLETELY ignore every fanfic i've ever written, but i'm hoping to make it up to y'all with some sweet, sweet weekly goodness.

Keith absolutely refused to have a no-go birthday party, once he found out that that was an option.

“Guys. Cake.” He’d said, shaking his head and looking around. He couldn’t believe that nobody else was on the same page as him. “C’mon. Birthday parties mean _cake_ ,”

“Okay, sure.” Hunk drawled. “But there’s also bears. And creepy voiceover dreams in the woods. Oh, and there’s this chick washing armor in the river, but cake takes priority.”

“Yes.” Keith sighed. “Thank god, somebody gets it.”

“No!” Hunk cried. “That was sarcasm. I wasn’t agreeing with you. Shiro, help?”

“Well,” Shiro said thoughtfully. “You said the magic dream pillow thing worked,” He started.

“It did,” Keith assured everyone, pointing his fork around the table. “Honestly, it did.”

“And we didn’t order the food or anything for last weekend,” Shiro continued. “So we could always throw it this weekend.” He offered. “If nothing tries to eat you in your sleep until then.”

Lance and Keith cheered, giving each other high fives.

“Oh man, my sister is so excited,” Lance babbled, sitting back down and looking around at the group. “She’s going to bring her homemade doughnuts!”

“Homemade doughnuts!” Keith exclaimed, looking accusingly at Hunk. “You were going to stand between me and homemade doughnuts?”

“Listen, buddy, I wasn’t going to get any homemade doughnuts either. It was a sacrifice we were both going to make so that you didn’t get turned into a homemade doughnut by a bear.” He replied, taking a long sip of his soda.

“If it helps, we can put up some protection charms around the house while we party,” Pidge offered, stealing one of Lance’s fries. “So nothing shitty happens during the festivities.”

“See, Hunk? Protection charms,” Keith said, grinning. “It’ll all work out.”

“You need to stop hanging out with Lance so much.” Hunk said, squinting at the two of them. “But I’ll make a cake anyway.”

Keith couldn’t help himself; he was really and truly excited. The last birthday party he’d had, the only person in attendance was Shiro. They ended up blowing all of the arcade tokens themselves and Shiro had let him stay up all night watching horror movies to soothe some of the sting that came with nobody showing up to the ‘weird kid’ birthday party.

“So we can party Friday night?” Keith asked, as everyone started to pack back up to go to class.

“We can party Friday night.” Shiro assured him, scrubbing at his hair.

* * *

 

Keith kept the satchet under his pillow the rest of the week, and the rest of the week, he met up with this really mean, crass woman who kept telling him to shut up and sit on the rock while she washed this armor.

Keith’s patience was wearing incredibly thin with her, if he was being honest.

On one hand, the woman kept him from being snatched up by bears and crows, but really? Did she have to be so rude about it?

He said as much at lunch on Wednesday.

“All I’m saying is she doesn’t have to be such an asshole, alright?” Keith said, rubbing his eyes. He’d fallen asleep on the rock the night before, which lent him some amount of restfulness, but it really didn’t help with his general magical malaise.

“Yeah, like sure, she’s saving your life, but if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything, right?” Lance said, sitting on top of Keith in the same chair and stirring his milkshake with his straw.

Lance had rarely been out of physical contact with Keith since Keith woke up with scratches down his spine, and not in a fun way.

“I’m starting to think that she’s got some kind of… significance,” Pidge said, frowning down at their research. Every spare moment of their time had been spent in their Grimoire.

“What do you mean?” Keith asked, eating another French fry.

“Have you guys ever heard of the Morrigan?” They asked, sitting back in their chair.

“That was the shop that I went into when we went to dinner,” Keith said, cocking his head to the side.

“Wha—Keith!” Pidge sputtered, glaring fiercely at Keith. “Why didn’t you say that sooner?”

“I didn’t think it mattered,” Keith said, shrugging.

“Oh, boy,” Hunk sighed. “Here we go,”

“Everything matters, Keith,” Pidge hissed, throwing up their hands. “Down to the littlest details! Everything matters in magic and science!”

“Uh, I’m sorry?” Keith said, staring wide-eyed at the Pigeon, who was currently mid-magical-meltdown.

“Argh! You should be! Damn, I could have figured this out two _days_ ago,” Pidge said, whipping of their glasses to rub at the bridge of their nose.

“So, about the Morrigan?” Shiro finally drawled, looking between Pidge and Hunk curiously. Hunk was skimming their notes and nodding to himself.

“The Celtic triple-goddess of War, Fate, and Death.” Shiro’s eyes widened.

“That sounds. Terrible,” He admitted.

“Not if she’s helping Keith.” Lance said, giving Keith a sideways glance. “I mean, if she was out for his blood, maybe that would suck?”

“She often appears as a crow, which Keith saw multiple times, which often flies above soldiers to inspire courage in the heart of warriors.” Hunk continued. “And sometimes… She appears as a woman, washing bloody armor in the river. The person seeing the vision’s armor. To foretell their death in battle.” Hunk said haltingly, glancing around the room.

You could drop a pin.

Shiro sat, mouth agape, staring blankly at Hunk.

Lance sat, mouth agape, staring blankly at Keith.

Coran dropped his head, putting his forehead in his hands.

Allura clutched at her chest, looking around the room.

Pidge took a deep breath.

“What kind of armor was it, Keith?” They asked, plowing ahead.

“It was like, white and black,” Keith said, blinking at Pidge. “I don’t… I don’t know exactly what kind. I can draw it for you, if you want?”

“That’d be great.” Pidge said, holding up a shaking hand. They finally reached out and grabbed Keith’s hand and squeezed. “We’re going to figure this out.”

“Fuck fate,” Lance finally growled.

“Lance, what?” Keith said, turning his head to look at his boyfriend. Lance’s face was tipped down, forehead pressed to Keith’s shoulder. His body shook lightly and Keith wrapped his arms around his middle to steady him.

“Fuck. Fate.” Lance spat into Keith’s hoodie. Keith was getting incredibly warm, and he looked around in shock.

“Lance, you gotta calm down,” The rest of the crew was slowly pushing their chairs back, away from the couple.

“Lance,” Shiro said in a stiff voice. “Keith, get him to breathe with you, okay?”

They were surrounded in fire. Keith couldn’t move without getting too close to the flames.

“Hey,” Keith muttered into Lance’s ear. “Hey, breathe with me. Can you feel me?”

Lance didn’t answer except to throw his arms around Keith’s shoulders. Keith took a deep breath, just like Shiro used to do with him.

“In,” Keith intoned in Lance’s ear, cupping his hand to the back of Lance’s head. “Out,”

They slowly, very slowly, got Lance’s breathing back to normal and the actual ring of fire burned down to a smouldering ring on the floor and melted takeout containers.

“You okay?” Keith asked, pressing their foreheads together.

“No,” Lance admitted.

“Well, we aren’t on fire anymore, so can we call it a win?” Keith said, looking seriously at Lance. He nodded.

“What are we going to do?” Hunk said quietly. “We have to do something.”

“I’m not sure yet,” Pidge admitted. “I’m not going to stop researching, okay?”

“Okay.” Keith said, looking at Pidge, then at Shiro. Shiro sat, shell-shocked, in his chair, legs too long for the teenager-sized seat. He held a fork limply in one hand, staring distantly at the whiteboard. “We’re not going to give up, right, Shiro?”

Shiro seemed to come back to himself.

“Right.” He said firmly

“So… What are we going to do about this uh, ring of fire on the floor?” Hunk finally said, pointing to the ring of ash and successfully breaking the tension.

“Well, I have scrub brushes under the sink,” Coran said, trailing off. Lance and groaned as Hunk, Pidge and Keith put his finger to his nose.

“Novio, at least help me out,” He begged, moving to stand.

“Anything for you, cariño,” Keith said, grinning and elbowing Lance to get into the cabinet first. “Anything.”


	17. Allura has this Huge, Huge Greenhouse Behind Her House and She Paints The Flowers In It Every Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> happy birthday, keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, a quick blurb about my first novel-length original work:
> 
> jack drosdov prides himself on being a good friend. he tries his best to always be there for his two best friends, twins eric and drew landrey. when eric decides to film at a local haunted house for his documentary film class, jack begrudgingly follows him to the edge of the forest with a sack of 'borrowed' cameras to film some ghosts on the full moon in the name of being a good friend. 
> 
> jack 'good friend' drosdov finds himself in the basement of this haunted house, between the jaws of the biggest dog he's ever seen. 
> 
> soon, he's writing things like 'werewolf practice' and 'find alpha' in between things like 'lit homework' and 'soccer practice' in his bullet journal. 
> 
> jack still isn't sure that he didn't fall down the stairs at the mansion and give himself a gnarly concussion, or if someone his secretly punking him from behind the scenes, but there is one thing he does know: his biochem lab write-up is due on thursday, and things are going to get a little hairy.

The rest of the week passed without incident. Keith slept on that little pouch of herbs and continued to meet the woman every night. He hadn’t scrounged up enough courage to ask her if she was, indeed, a Morrigan or whatever, but he had been able to sleep on that rock in the clearing.

He felt more clear-headed than before, which served him well in getting back into the swing of classes before any of his grades slipped.

Friday rolled around, and Keith would absolutely not be contained.

“So what’s the party going to be like?” He quizzed the group at lunch. “Are we going to play games or something? Go somewhere?”

“We originally planned it to be a surprise party,” Coran indulged him with a big smile. “So we were going to make you go to Hunk’s house for an hour or so until we decorated you and Shiro’s house.”

“Oh, cool!” Keith said, grinning at everyone.

“Power Rangers,” Hunk said, unable to contain the secret any longer. “It’s gonna be a Power Rangers party.”

“No fuckin’ way,” Keith said, stilling. “Power Rangers? For real?” He asked, looking at Shiro. Shiro nodded, a happy grin on his face. “This is awesome,”

Keith never got to have his Power Rangers birthday party. The first foster home he’d been in, they were going to get him a Power Rangers cake, but he’d ruined it.

Two days before his birthday, he got in a fight with their biological daughter and they’d sent him packing. It didn’t matter that she’d been bullying him for his short hair and preference to dig in the dirt and watch Power Rangers rather than go to ballet with her.

What mattered was that Keith had yelled his little heart out and cried and cried under the swing set until his social worker came to pick him up.

He’d been a ‘bad fit’, apparently.

Onto the next.

He’d told Shiro about it in hushed whispers, a few years later when he’d first been adopted by the Shiroganes. Shiro watched all the Power Rangers episodes they could find with him the next day on the couch. When their mom had come to tell them to do some of their weekend chores, Shiro had brought her into the kitchen and had another whispered conversation.

They had been allowed to skip their chores that weekend, and that was the first of many whispered conversations between Shiro and their parents that happened under the stained glass chandelier in the kitchen about Keith.

“I can’t wait until tonight,” Keith said earnestly.

Shiro watched with something warm building in his chest. Neither could he.

* * *

 

“So it actually worked out a little better that we could have it tonight,” Pidge said, dragging their bag of contraband party supplies into Keith’s living room. “My brother is home this weekend and is down to come.”

“Really? Matt’s coming?” Lance asked, perking up from where he was wrangling a tangled pile of string lights. He’d insisted on getting the ones with the speakers on them, and Keith was absolutely baffled with how Lance had managed to get them tangled within ten minutes of taking them out of the box.

“Yeah! He and my parents are going to stop by.” Pidge chirped.

“That’s awesome! It’s just going to be Louisa from our camp,” Lance said with a tight grin. “My dad’s home.”

“Oof,” Hunk said, shaking his head and lugging the grocery bags into the kitchen.

“Oof is right,” Lance agreed, picking the final knots out of the string lights. “Novio!” He barked, whirling on Keith where he held the other end of the lights wearing a shocked expression. “Drop the party supplies and go get in the bubble bath!”

“I can at least help,” Keith said, raising his hands in surrender.

“Not for your own party, you’re not,” Lance said, advancing and shaking his finger at Keith. “Get thee to the tub!”

“Jeez,” Pidge grumbled, dropping off the decorations and moving to snark with Shiro. “He made me pick up my own birthday cake,” They said, crossing their arms and rolling their eyes.

“Yeah, well Lance isn’t in love with you,” Hunk said, chuckling into the large pot he’d procured from under the sink. Shiro was a little dubious at setting a teenager loose in his kitchen, but the rest of the clan had absolutely insisted that they let him cook.

“And he’s in love with Keith?” Shiro said, giving a teasing look to Allura. Allura chuckled behind her hand and put more icing onto the cake from the bowl in front of her.

Coran popped the last of the Power Rangers pieces from the cake decorating kit and handed them over to Allura for the final placement before digging a huge canister of jimmies out of the party supply bag.

“It simply isn’t a birthday cake without more hundreds-and-thousands than you can shake a stick at!” He said jovially before absolutely raining hellfire in the form of jimmies upon Allura’s creation.

“You’re probably right,” Shiro laughed, taking a swipe of the icing out of the bowl. “Do you need any help, Hunk?” He offered, turning toward the young man at the stove.

He was already covered in flour and had managed to get some sort of sauce on his forehead, but he was determinedly whisking something that smelled both spicy and savoury at the same time.

“Nope,” He said, shaking his head once and dislodging a whole new puff of flour. “I got it on lockdown, here, boss.”

“Okay,” Shiro laughed, moving out to help Lance. He shook his head at the amount of cleanup that he’d have to do Saturday, but he really couldn’t dredge it up within him to care.

He went to hold up the string lights for Lance while he taped them to the ceiling.

“Did Keith finally go and take his bath?” Shiro asked, standing easily on his tip-toes to hold up the lights while Lance glared and shuffled the dining room chair along to reach.

“Yeah, I think so. I’ll go get him after we get everything decorated. Louisa should be here within the hour, as well as Hunk’s parents and Matt and Pidge’s parents.” Lance said, offhand.

“Maybe I’ll go get him,” Shiro said, raising an eyebrow at Lance.

“I’m not gonna go _in_ the bathroom,” Lance laughed. “Just knocking. Knocking only.”

“Okay. Knocking only.” Shiro said, fixing Lance with a serious look.

* * *

 

Keith sat in the tub with his knees to his chest. He listened as everyone prepared for the party downstairs and spoke softly, under his breath. He was talking to his Mom and Dad.

He thought he’d feel conflicted, with all the change going on. His first good group of friends. His first birthday party with people who wanted to be at it. His first party without his parents.

“You’d be proud of us, Dad. Mom would probably cry.” Keith said into the lightly-scented bubbles that Lance had foisted upon him. “Dad, you would get out all of these pictures that you’d taken over the years and tell everyone for the thousandth time that you had wished you guys had found me sooner. Mom would insist that I found you guys.” He said, tears threatening to choke him. “God, I don’t want to do this without you guys,” Keith admitted, rubbing at his face. “But at least I’ve got Shiro. We can do anything together, right? That’s what you told us forever.”

His voice trailed off and he pulled the plug in the bathtub.

“I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad.”

He started to change into his party outfit, a white tee shirt and tight black jeans, when there was a light tapping on the bathroom door.

“Novio? Shiro made me promise I wouldn’t come in but it’s just about time to come downstairs,” Lance said quietly. “But I kinda heard you,” Lance admitted. Keith froze.

He’d never let anyone, including Shiro, hear him talk to his parents.

“Oh,” Keith finally said.

“I’m really sorry. I could go,” Lance said, unsure of himself. He hovered outside of the bathroom for a minute.

Keith pulled the last of his clothes on and opened the door, dragging Lance to his bedroom.

“No. It’s okay.” Keith decided.

Lance didn’t look at him like he was some broken thing because he’d lost his parents. He looked at him with the most tender expression that Keith had ever seen on someone.

“I don’t know what to say because I’ve never lost anybody, but you can talk to me if you need to. Or want to. Or even think you might want to.” Lance said, trailing off. “But right now, I could totally give you a hug.”

Keith didn’t say anything but leant into Lance’s open arms. Lance wrapped him up tight and pressed a firm kiss to his forehead.

“I’m always going to be here for you, Novio.” Lance murmured into Keith’s still-wet hair. “Always.”

* * *

 

When Shiro came upstairs to collect the two boys, he chose the quiet route. They’d been up there for almost thirty minutes, and Shiro just didn’t believe that Lance wasn’t in the bathroom with Keith.

He’d been wrong, upon first inspection. The bathroom was empty, and he’d automatically moved to put Keith’s discarded school clothes in the hamper. Shiro quietly snuck down the hallway (of his own house, he thought in mild outrage) and heard Keith’s soft voice. From his vantage point, he could see Keith, laying on Lance’s chest on Keith’s bed.

“At birthday parties, you would think that it’d be Mom breaking out the baby pictures, but it was Dad. He was always so proud of us. He’d tell anybody who’d listen about ‘his two sons’.” Keith said, voice breaking slightly. Lance automatically carded his hand through Keith’s hair and kissed his head gently. “I miss them so much. I can’t even imagine what Shiro’s thinking right now. They weren’t even my parents.”

“Of course they were, novio,” Lance said firmly, taking the words right out of Shiro’s mouth. “I didn’t get a chance to meet them, and for that… I’ll never regret anything more, just from your stories.” Lance said quietly. “But of course they were your parents. It doesn’t matter when you get them, right? Shiro’s still your brother, just like you’re his brother.”

Shiro could feel his heart breaking, but he knew he was intruding. He couldn’t stand there and listen to Keith’s private confessions like this.

“You’re right,” Keith said in a quiet voice.

“What did your mom do at birthday parties, angel?” Lance murmured after a beat of silence.

“She always cried. She said she could never believe that another year had passed.” Keith continued.

Shiro turned away and went back into the bathroom, collecting himself for a moment.

He’d been so wrapped up in all the drama with Keith being attacked in his dreams and witches and moving and everything else that he hadn’t even thought about how Keith was feeling today.

It would be the first birthday party for both of them without their parents.

Shiro looked at the folded sleeve in the mirror and felt the burning, simmering rage build up in his chest again. He gripped the sink in his remaining hand and tried to tamp it down, come back down to earth.

Why them? Why their family?

Keith had been doing so well, too.

He took a few more steadying breaths before wiping his face off and going back downstairs.

“Where’s the birthday boy?” Hunk asked, voice muffled thanks to a plastic yellow Ranger mask.

“He and Lance are going to be a minute. Keith needed some alone time.” Shiro admitted quietly. “How close are everybody’s parents?”

“About fifteen minutes,” Hunk said, taking Keith’s needs in stride. “I can text my parents and say I forgot the ice. It’ll buy like ten, fifteen more minutes.”

“I’ll text Matt and tell him we need some time. He’ll be dramatic about jeans or something and make our parents late.” Pidge said, nodding once and reaching for their phone.

“I’ll let Louisa know, too. She won’t be too worried.” Hunk said, sending another text. “Is Keith okay?”

“Its…” Shiro started, frowning. “It’s our first birthday party without our parents.” He admitted. The room stilled.

“Oh, Shiro,” Allura said, breaking the silence. “I’m so sorry,”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, looking gutted. “I mean, I knew, but I didn’t _know,_ you know?”

“Right,” Shiro said, nodding slowly. “Not really.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Hunk said, laughing nervously and fiddling with the wristband of his shirt. “Do you like, need anything?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, it had to happen eventually, right?” Shiro said, shaking his head with a sad smile. “We’ll just be ready for when Keith comes down.”

“Right.” Pidge agreed fiercely. “We’ll give them just a little more time.”

* * *

 

“Hey, guys?” Hunk called up the stairs. “Pidge’s parents and Matt are here,”

Keith peeled his face off of Lance’s chest. In the darkened room, he’d fallen asleep listening to Lance’s heartbeat.

“Hey, babe,” Lance said, voice husky with sleep. “You alright?”

“I think I will be,” Keith admitted. “Thank you so much.”

“Of course. It’s what I’m here for.” Lance gently cupped Keith’s face in his hand and kissed him. “Me and you, Novio. Against the world.”

“Yeah,” Keith agreed, kissing Lance back. “I like the sound of that.”

“Do I have to come up there?” Shiro’s voice finally came up the stairs.

“No! No, no thank you,” Lance screeched, voice cracking. Keith laughed and moved to put on his boots as Lance scrambled to get out into the hallway and down the stairs.

“Did you fall asleep? Your hair’s all,” Keith could hear Pidge razzing Lance. Their voice cut off sharply with a squawk, and Keith could only assume that some kind of Big Brother Ultimate Takedown had occurred.

He could hear Shiro laughing and Hunk trying to break the other two up, Allura telling the group to simmer down and be polite, and Coran trying to introduce Shiro to everyone over the din.

Maybe everything was going to be alright, after all.

* * *

 

“So you’re telling me that you _can’t_ tell me where you work?” Shiro asked Matt, holding a slice of cake. He didn’t have the heart to tell Matt that they would have to move to the table to eat, or at least toward the counter, so that he could set down his plate enough to operate his fork.

Not for the first time, and Shiro knew it wasn’t going to be his last, he was irritated as hell about his current situation.

“Not a word,” Matt chuckled. His eyes shined back at Shiro over the last bite of cake he took, scanning Shiro up and down with a mirthful grin. He locked eyes on the cake in Shiro’s hand and he paled.

“Oh my god,” Matt said, jaw dropping. Shiro tensed. “Do you not like cake?”

Blank. Shiro’s mind was wiped with a single question.

“I… No, I love… I just have to set my plate down to eat,” Realization dawned on Matt and he rushed to put his hand under Shiro’s plate.

“I’m such a dingus! I’m sorry, Shiro,” He babbled, face reddening.

“I was actually thinking we could take a seat?” Shiro drawled, a slow grin spreading across his face. Matt nodded, scooping the cake plate out of Shiro’s hand with a grimace.

“Excellent idea. Next time I’m holding you hostage, just do me a favor and kick me? It’d hurt me less than being an asshole for a half an hour,” Matt sighed. Shiro laughed, taking a seat at the rickety dining room table. 

“So, what brought you here, Shiro?” Matt finally asked, trying to change the subject back to Shiro. “Always wanted the small town life? That good old fashioned neighbor gossiping, one-stoplight-having charm?” Shiro laughed at Matt’s jaded expression.

“You could say that,” Shiro said, shaking his head and grinning. Matt stole a bite of Shiro’s cake with a laugh.

Pidge and Hunk looked on with wildly differing expressions.

Pidge looked as smug as they could get, smirking from ear to ear. They crooked their fingers at Hunk, who was dejectedly digging through his wallet.

“Pay up, Hunk,” Pidge chuckled.

“I hate you,” Hunk whined, pulling out his last twenty dollar bill.

“Hey, you should have known better than to bet against his own sibling,” Pidge said, snapping the bill gleefully and jamming it into their pocket.

“Don’t spend it all in one place,” Hunk grumbled, moving to the kitchen.

Fucking mating habits.

* * *

 

Keith waved out the front door as car doors slammed in the driveway.

“Thank you guys so much for coming!” He called, Shiro at his back. “Thank you!” He yelled again.

“See you in the morning, Keith!” Hunk called from his parents’ car.

“It was nice to meet you!” Coleen called from the passenger seat of Sam’s truck. Matt flipped Shiro and Keith the bird while Pidge flipped them two as Matt backed out the driveway.

Lance laughed from inside the house.

“Do you wanna drive me home, novio?” He asked, stepping up to take Keith’s hand.

“Sure. Five minutes?” He asked, squeezing Lance’s fingers between his own. Shiro chuckled and shook his head.

“I’m going to go upstairs and shower.” He announced. Keith shut and locked the door behind them as Shiro bounded up the stairs.

Lance mentally cursed Shiro’s name. He wanted to roast him at _least_ once about the major heart eyes between Shiro and Matt, but it looked like he wasn’t going to get a chance.

No matter. Keith tugged him toward the couch.

“Have a good party?” Lance asked, curling up around Keith.

“Amazing,” Keith whispered, snuggling close to Lance. “Way better than I thought it was going to be.”

“I’m so glad,” Lance replied, sapping Keith’s warmth slowly. Keith didn’t mind. “You like your gifts?”

“Yeah! I’m actually not sure what to do with the tarot cards,” He said, frowning. “Will you show me?”

“Sure. It’s a date.” Lance laughed. They sat together for a few more moments, not talking, until Keith began to get tired.

“Want to head out? I’m starting to nod off,” Keith chuckled.

“Of course, novio. Let’s suit up.” Lance agreed. They moved outside and Keith started his bike, pulling out and taking Lance the long way home.

Keith stopped at the end of the block and Lance hopped off, taking Keith’s face in his hands.

“Happy birthday, novio. I love you.” Lance whispered, leaning in to kiss Keith.

That was the first time. The first time either of them had said that to each other. A jolt of electricity rippled through Keith’s veins, and he couldn’t be pressed to say if it were from magic or not.

“I love you too,” Keith breathed, unable to fully catch his breath. Did his binder suddenly get two sizes too small?

“Really?” Lance asked, eyes brightening.

“Really, really,” Keith confirmed. He leant back into Lance, scooping him off the ground and spinning him around. His bike fell down behind him, but he didn’t care.

Lance loved him. And he loved Lance back.

“I love you,” Keith said again, stronger this time. Lance laughed, tipping his head back.

In the setting sun, he was beautiful. So full of light. Full of life.

God, Keith could hardly stand it. He leant in again and kissed Lance, the boy that _loved him back_ , tangling his fingers in Lance’s short hair.

“Lance!” A sharp voice called from the road.

A car had stopped. A black sedan.

Lance slowly turned, a horrified look on his face.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The man snapped. His face was a dark, angry red and the grip on his steering wheel threatened something sinister. Lance swallowed a few times, the first time Keith had ever seen him speechless.

“Dad?”


	18. Consider This: Allura and Hunk Team Up To Make The World's Best Basil Pesto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fallout.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it took me one (1) whole week to muck up the whole "i'm going to post every week thing," huh
> 
> but for serious, these next couple of chapters will probably get a little intense for some readers, with themes of child abuse and other things in that general vicinity.

Crumbling.

That’s what Keith was doing. He was crumbling. His knees were locked, his back ramrod straight. Was he breathing? He couldn’t tell.

“Get your ass in this car,” The man, Lance’s dad, growled. Lance hesitated, sparing a glance to Keith. “Now!” Lance’s dad bellowed, smacking the steering wheel with the butt of both of his hands.

“Jesus Christ,” Keith muttered, coming un-stuck. Something stirred in Keith’s gut, forcing him a step forward.

“Novio,” Lance whispered, springing into action. He put himself between the car and Keith, his back to his father. “I love you. Call Hunk.”

“Are you in danger?” The words tumbled out of Keith in a hurry.

“Call Hunk. I love you.” Lance said, taking a step back. Tears were in his eyes and his knees were weak, but he still took another step backwards. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Keith mumbled back, feeling something wrench loose in his chest. He looked away, fumbling with his phone as Lance turned to put his hand on the car door.

Lance’s heart pounded in his throat, choking the life out of him slowly.

He shut the car door and the black sedan peeled away.

“Keith?” Hunk asked on the other line. “Did I forget something at your house? If this is about the dishes, Lance totally said that he’d do those,”

“Lance’s dad saw me kiss him.” Keith blurted, watching the car tear through the neighbourhood. “He made Lance get into the car with him and now he’s driving Lance home,” Keith’s voice shook. “What’s going on? He looked terrified. He told me to call you and he, he just,”

“Holy shit,” Hunk gasped, after what Keith was telling him fully sunk in. “Mom!”

Hunk didn’t answer for a while. A long while. Long enough that Keith sunk to the sidewalk with shaking knees, nearing hyperventilation with every passing second.

“Keith? Get back to your house. My parents are on their way to Lance’s house. I’m coming over.” Hunk said hurriedly. “Pidge and Matt are going to pick me up.”

“Is Lance in trouble?” Keith said, jumping back up to his feet. “I’m not going to leave if he’s in trouble.”

“Keith, I’m telling you. You do not want to go in there.” Hunk said, voice thin. Keith could hear him running on the other end of the line.

“I do. That’s Lance in there,” Keith said, voice cracking.

“I know, but you don’t know what his dad is capable of. Please, listen to me and come to your house. My moms are literally in transit now. They’ll be there to help him soon.”

“I’m staying until they get here. I won’t go up to the house.” Keith bargained, starting his bike. “I’m going to park down the block. Should I be calling the cops?”

“No. Last time… I’ll tell you when you get here,” Hunk huffed. “Hang up with me and call Shiro. I texted him and he’s shitting his pants.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you soon.” Keith said, taking his bike the four blocks to Lance’s street. He could see the black sedan sitting in the driveway along with Mrs. McClain’s silver van.

It looked so normal. What the hell was _happening_ in there that Hunk’s parents were on their way? What was going on that Keith couldn’t go inside?

“Shiro?” Keith said when the line picked up.

“Jesus Christ,” Shiro responded. He sounded winded, and the similarity to Keith’s expletives made Keith tighten his jaw with grim humour. “Where are you?”

“I’m three houses down from Lance’s house. I’m not going in, but I’m not leaving until Hunk’s parents get here.” Keith said firmly. Shiro sucked in a breath.

“I don’t fully know what’s going on,” Shiro admitted. “Can you start from the top?”

Keith told him everything he knew, the whole way back to the time when Hunk kidnapped him and told him that Lance’s dad was a real piece of shit.

“Did Hunk actually _say_ that Lance’s dad was a real piece of shit, or are you ad-libbing?”

“I’m ad-libbing.”

“Okay. Continue.”

When Keith ended with his fears for what was going on in that house, Shiro swore lowly.

“Listen, Matt, Pidge, and Hunk are here. They just pulled in. Stay on the line.” Shiro ordered, voice going cold. Tactical.

“I love you,” Keith blurted as a yellow Volkswagen Beetle hurtled up the street. He put the phone in his pocket.

“Keith, honey, I need you to go home,” Lisa told him, grabbing him by the shoulders. Carrie, who had in every one of Keith’s other interactions with her had stayed quiet and polite, was storming up the driveway with murder in her eyes. “Carrie, wait for me,” Lisa said, giving Keith a pleading look. “Please, go home.”

“He’ll be okay?” Keith asked, fire in his eyes.

“Please, just go home,” Lisa said, dodging the question. “We have to go inside.”

“Okay. Okay,” Keith said, taking a step back. “Okay. Be careful,” Keith said, connecting with his bike. Lisa waved him off before turning to meet Carrie at the base of the stairs.

Keith stuck around for long enough to watch Carrie focus some kind of blast of white light at the back door, blowing it in.

That made him snatch his phone out of his pocket.

“Shiro? I’m coming home,” He babbled, starting his bike.

“Okay. Hunk’s been filling me in. Drive safe,” Shiro said. Just the way Shiro _sounded_ gave Keith heartburn.

If Carrie wasn’t going to kill somebody tonight, Shiro just might.

* * *

 

Keith popped a wheelie about seven times on the ride home. He physically could not stay in first gear. A stoplight nearly killed him on the spot, the leg that wasn’t holding his bike steady bouncing relentlessly where the foot rested on the footpeg.

He slid into the driveway sideways, screeching tires and making Shiro jump to his feet inside.

Keith dropped the bike in the driveway and ran inside, nearly barreling into Shiro on the way in.

“Are you hurt?” Shiro asked, grabbing Keith by his elbow.

“No, I’m fine. What’s going on?”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Hunk asked, coming to stand next to Shiro.

“I’m fine! I’m more concerned about Lance!” Keith said, voice breaking. “Why is nobody telling me what’s going on with him?” Shiro looked at Hunk, frowning, and Hunk looked at Matt. Pidge rolled their eyes at the dramatics.

“I’m not going to lie,” Matt said in the silence. He stood and walked toward Keith with a frown on his face. “This is pretty bad.”

“No shit!” Keith said, breaking away from Shiro and Hunk. “Somebody better talk, right the fuck now, or I am going to snap!” He snarled, fisting his hands in his hair.

He felt crackling static, pure anger and anxiety, sizzle its way up his spine and down his arms just before all of the lights on the first floor blew out with a loud _POP!_

“Uh, power surge?” Matt asked, blinking in the darkness.

Hunk squinted at where he knew Keith was standing.

“No, not a power surge,” Pidge said, frowning at their phone. “Nothing else on the block just blew.”

“I’ve got some candles,” Shiro said, moving to the kitchen. Keith woodenly reached into his jacket pocket and gave Shiro his lighter. “I’m also going to pretend like you didn’t just hand this to me.”

“For the last time,” Keith said once Shiro lit the few candles he kept near the stove. “What is going on?”

“Maybe you should sit,” Matt said, gesturing toward the kitchen table. Keith obliged, feeling his limbs move without him really urging them to. “You guys know that I can’t really talk about my work.”

“Yeah,” Keith said, giving Shiro a look in the gloom. In the flickering candlelight, Shiro’s face was in stark relief and Keith could see that beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was absolutely livid. He wondered how much Matt had already told him before he got home.

“Well, what I can tell you is that I’m a cop. Kind of,” He trailed off. “Kind of a cop. With Hunk’s parents.”

“That’s why we moved here,” Pidge interjected.

“How are you involved with this?” Keith asked, looking back to Matt.

“I know that Hunk told you about Lance’s dad. Mr. McClain has been involved with plenty of illegal activity thanks to his gift.” Matt said, his previously jovial expression turning grim. “And Hunk’s parents and I are going to bring him in as a result. He’s been using his gift in a way that’s endangering others and it’s going to stop today.”

“You’re arresting him,” Keith said, relief flooding his body. “So he can’t hurt any of them.”

“Yeah. That’s what’s going on right now.” Matt said, shooting a look at Shiro. “What we want to know, is how you avoided Mr. McClain’s compulsion.”

“What do you mean?” Keith asked. “He didn’t even say anything to me.”

“Are you certain?” Matt said, frowning at him.

“Absolutely. He only told Lance to get in the car.” Matt nodded slowly to himself, sitting back in his chair and scratching at his neck.

“Sure. Okay. That makes sense, I guess.” Keith snuck a glance at Shiro, who had visibly relaxed.

“So, wait… You’re magic too?” Keith asked, squinting at Matt. He nodded in the darkness, shrugging a shoulder.

“Sure.” He didn’t elaborate, which only made Keith roll his eyes.

“Is it weird to ask what kind?” Keith asked, making Pidge snigger and offer him their fist for a fist bump.

“No.” Said a voice from behind Keith. He nearly slammed his head off the table at the shock, making Matt snigger and Shiro look fearfully behind Keith.

He whipped around, only to be faced with a second Matt.

“Uh?” He asked, pointing at the second Matt. “You… Multiply?”

“No,” Said a third voice from the kitchen counter.

The candle flame nearly reached and in the shadows, Keith could see… A cat?

“You make cats appear,” Keith said, wearily turning back to Matt, who was now fully giggling.

“Illusion,” Pidge sighed, landing a punch on their brother’s arm. “He can pull illusion magic. Getting that fancy job made him way more annoying at it.”

“They mean better at it. I got better at it.” Matt insisted, his illusions vanishing in a whiff of smoke.

Keith looked back at Shiro. He looked a little shell-shocked, but overall seemed to be taking that all in stride.

 “What are we going to do about Lance’s dad?” Shiro finally asked. “If he has the power of suggestion, how is he going to be tried? He could just tell Hunk’s parents to let him go.”

“We have power nullification potions. It’s just a dampener.” Hunk said, frowning. “I don’t really know anything about the High Court or anything, but I’m sure they have the same thing…” He trailed off.

“I didn’t hear that you know about that,” Matt said, shaking his head. Hunk’s blush was even visible in the dark.

“I’m nosy. You know this.” Hunk said, managing to look both sheepish and unrepentant in turns.

There was a knock at the door that made Shiro, Keith, and Matt jump to their feet.

“It’s Lisa!” A voice called. “You guys home? It’s dark.”

Shiro moved to open the door, standing in front of Keith until he could get it open a crack and see that it was, in fact, Lisa. She stood on the front stoop with Lance just behind her.

Shiro let them both in.

“Lance!” Keith gasped, diving out the door to wrap his arms around his boyfriend. “Are you okay?”

Lance’s forehead was split open and he was still sniffling.

“Shiro,” Keith said, turning and opening his mouth to ask permission to take Lance upstairs.

“Go ahead,” Shiro said, nodding at his brother.

“C’mon, we’ll get some alcohol on that,” Keith muttered, wrapping his arm around Lance.

Lance was quiet the whole way up the stairs. Keith directed him to sit in the chair that normally held clothes that weren’t quite dirty enough to be washed as he dug around under the sink for the first aid kit.

Once Lance sat down, he burst into tears. Keith nearly hit his head off the top of the cabinet in an effort to scramble back out.

“Lance, hey, hey, hey,” Keith chanted, standing and wrapping his arms around Lance’s neck. Lance buried his face in Keith’s sweatshirt and sobbed, shoulders shaking and chest heaving. “Oh, Lance,” He sighed, running a hand through Lance’s hair.

Keith let him cry it out, rocking him and just holding him. It was all he could do.

“Let’s get you bandaged up and we’ll go lay down, okay?” Keith said gently. Lance nodded, breath coming in short hiccups and stuttering sighs. “Is everybody else okay?” Lance nodded. “Okay, sweetheart,” Keith said, brushing Lance’s hair aside and kneeling in front of Lance on the floor. “Does anything else hurt?” Lance gave him his right hand.

The knuckles were bruised and split.

Keith made a small sound in the back of his throat.

Lance had fought back.

“I am so proud of you,” Keith said, fiercely yet barely audible over the beating of his own heart. He bent down and kissed Lance’s knuckles, one by one, before looking back up into Lance’s eyes.

He had begun to cry anew as he put his uninjured hand over Keith’s.

Keith cupped the back of his neck and brought him in for another hug, nestling Lance’s face into his neck.

“Keith,” Lance stuttered. “He, he…”

“You don’t have to talk, right now. Not if you don’t want to. You can just get band-aids and go to sleep if you want.”

Lance took a shuddering breath.

“Okay.” He agreed, leaning back and allowing Keith to wrap up his hand. “How do you know how to do that so well?”

“Experience. Let’s get you into some pyjamas, alright?”

* * *

 

Lisa sat down at the table in the place that Keith had vacated to take Lance upstairs.

“How is he?” Matt asked, sitting back down and frowning at Lisa.

“Shaken up. We got there before anything like last time could happen.” Lisa said, putting her head in her hands. “Lance said that Troy had hit him in the car, and that’s what happened to his face. His mom got in between them at the house before the worst of it could happen. Troy hit Estella in the face and that’s when Lance laid him out.”

“Lance hit him?” Hunk asked, eyes wide. “Holy shit,”

“Yeah. Lance wouldn’t tell me what happened that he did that, but I guess he just snapped this time.” Lisa said, shaking her head. “Right now, Estella’s waiting for her sister and her husband to come over. Carrie’s taking Troy in. Estella thinks it’s best if we let Lance be at our house or at yours overnight to let him calm down.”

“Wherever he wants to be is fine with me,” Shiro said, nodding once. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”

“God,” Hunk said, shaking his head. “I’m going to go check on him.”

“Me too,” Pidge said, standing with Hunk.

“If you two want and are allowed, you can stay,” Shiro said, peering over the kitchen counter to see into the hallway.

“I don’t mind,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “It might be best, actually. I’ve got to get to Carrie, give her a hand.”

“I should go, too,” Matt said, making to stand. “I’ll call mom.”

“Okay. Love you, asshole.” Pidge said, taking two quick steps over to hug their brother.

It was clear what they were thinking. Hunk wordlessly moved to hug his mom twice.

“Share with Mom, okay?” He asked Lisa, making her chuckle.

“I will, baby. I’m sorry this is all happening to you kids.” Lisa said, looking exhausted.

“It’s okay. Go get the bad guy, Ma.” Hunk said, grinning at Lisa. Lisa roughed up his hair and turned to Shiro.

“Thanks for keeping them overnight.”

“They’re no problem,” Shiro said, waving away the thanks. “I feel a little bit better, honestly, knowing that they’re someplace safe while this blows over.”

“Me too. Get some rest, you guys.” Lisa called over her shoulder on her way out of the door.

“Mind if I go up first?” Shiro asked, turning to Pidge and Hunk.

They nodded and shifted on their feet, waiting for Shiro to come back down.

“Hey, guys.” Shiro knocked lightly on the bedroom door. “Pidge and Hunk are going to stay over, too. They really want to see you.”

“C’mon in,” Keith said quietly. Shiro ducked his head into the room, peering around the door frame.

The room was still a wreck from Hurricane Keith. Lance was curled up on Keith’s chest, a near mirror image of the position Keith had been in mere hours before.

“Do you need anything?” Shiro asked the two boys. Keith shook his head and Lance appeared to be sleeping. “I’m going to send them up. Is that okay?” Keith nodded, shooting Shiro a tired thumbs-up.

Shiro turned to leave before he stopped and put his head back into Keith’s bedroom.

“Hey, Keith?” Keith raised his head.

“Yeah?”

“I love you, you know that, right?” Shiro asked, worry apparent in his eyes.

"I know," Keith said, nodding once as two other faces appeared behind Shiro. Pidge and Hunk peered around him, eyes full of worry. "I love you too."

Hunk was the first to dive into the bed around Shiro. He was already crying and scooping Lance into his arms.

"Okay, easy," Lance grunted, managing to laugh a little at being shook like a rag doll.

"I have never! Been more scared! In my life!" Hunk blurted, squeezing Lance a little tighter with each wail. 

"We were all pretty scared," Pidge said in a small voice. They gently wrapped their arms around Lance and Hunk both, prompting Hunk to look leadingly at Keith. Keith leaned in for the group hug that Hunk so craved, tucking his head into the crook of Hunk's neck.

It was actually pretty nice.

"You too, Shiro." Lance said, holding out an arm that he extricated from Hunk's grasp. Shiro joined in with a good-natured sigh, giving Lance a good squeeze. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Shiro said, leaning back. "You guys get some sleep, alright?" Shiro left. Keith could hear him go back into his room. 

Keith didn't doubt that Shiro would be awake all night. 

"So," He said, looking around at his friends at the group hug collapsed. "Anybody want to watch some X-Files?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen you CAN TOO FIX EVERYTHING WITH XFILES.


End file.
